Because of You
by AnimeFantasy101
Summary: Doumeki hurts Watanuki without even being aware of it. Watanuki, feeling so alone and vulnerable is susceptible to demon posessions. Sorry for the slow updates!
1. Chapter 1

"Oi," went the usual monotone voice directed towards Watanuki Kimihiro, whose bright blue eyes shot a glare at his archrival, Doumeki Shizuka.

"For the last time, my name's not 'Oi'!" Watanuki growled, snapping out of his dream-like daze, "now what do you want?" The glasses-clad teen looked around his classroom and, for the first time, noticed that they were the only two present. Even the teacher left.

"The bell rang." Doumeki replied stoically. Watanuki scratched the back of his head and gave a soft, embarrassed laugh.

"Oh…I knew that," he lied.

"Then why aren't you leaving?" Doumeki asked, standing by the still seated boy.

"Because I'm not ready too!" The shorter teen shouted, raising his arm in a fist towards the taller man who was plugging now his ears. A few seconds ticked by. "Now I'm ready," he said, gathering up his books and papers on his desk and picking them up.

"Idiot," Doumeki said as he backed up and gave his friend some room to stand up.

"Shut up moron!" Watanuki shouted lamely back towards the archer. He picked up his shoulder bag filled with the weekend homework and swiftly headed out the door, leaving Doumeki behind. It didn't take long for the long-limbed teen to catch up.

"Are you going to the shop?" the golden eyed teen asked as he strode up beside the shorter male. Watanuki glared.

"What do you think moron? I go there just about every day." Doumeki seemed unaffected by the insult and continued walking. A few students remained in the halls for clubs or other after school activities. A group of girls walked past the two males, giggling loudly yet talking in hushed whispers. Watanuki caught the words "excited", "week", and "chocolate". "I wonder what those girls were talking about." Watanuki thought out loud after the girls were out of earshot. "Something exciting must be happening in a week that involves chocolate or something."

"White Day," Doumeki replied without a moment's hesitation. Watanuki gasped and slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Crap! I forgot about that! It's next Friday, isn't it?" he asked the taller teen. Doumeki nodded.

"Well, at least I found out a week ahead of time instead of just a few days. I don't know how something like that could have slipped my mind." He gave a simple shrug and looked over at his companion. "So are you going to give someone a White Day present?"

"Maybe," Doumeki shrugged, his usual stoic look planted on his face, "maybe not."

"Who would you give it to?" Watanuki asked, curiosity evident in his voice.

"Not telling," came the reply. Watanuki steamed.

"Come on! There are so many girls who like you but you never show an interest in any of them! If you keep that up, you're going to wind up lonely and miserable! And I'll laugh!" Watanuki was jealous of Doumeki; Every girl he came across liked him. Why couldn't he have that kind of luck?

"What about you?" Doumeki asked, changing the subject. Watanuki flailed his arms around like a fish out of water towards the archer, a look of annoyance on his face.

"I'm going to make chocolate for Himawari-chan of course! And don't change the subject!"

"Ah." Watanuki huffed at the man's lack of speech but continued out of the school. A thought crossed his mind several times, and he mentally debated with himself whether he should tell his companion or not before just deciding to go for it.

"I…think I'm going to confess to her." He blushed while thinking about what he was saying. "I-I mean…it's been a long time. It's about time she knows how I felt."

"Felt?" Doumeki asked, the word hanging awkwardly in the air. Watanuki blushed deeper, looking down on the sidewalk and nodding his head furiously.

"Well…I…moved on. I really, really liked her, but then I began to realize that she didn't really notice my feelings, even after so long." Watanuki spilled. "Maybe she never thought of me like that in the first place." Watanuki looked over at the archer with a sad expression.

"Ah." Doumeki said. Instantly, the gloomy atmosphere was lifted and a dark, rage-filled atmosphere took its place.

"Don't just say 'Ah' like it's nothing! Geez, why do I bother telling you ANYTHING?" Watanuki began to rant angrily, waving his limbs around comically. The two walked on together like that until they came to a cross road and it was time for them to separate, each boy mumbling their goodbyes. Then Watanuki continued on in silence.

When Watanuki opened the door to the shop, the smells of incense and smoke wafted out and greeted him. He sighed and mentally (and emotionally) prepared himself for the abuse he would receive for that day. Finally he took a deep breath and stepped inside, quickly being greeted by Maru and Moro.

"Watanuki's here!" Maru chirped.

"Watanuki's here!" Moro cheered.

"Watanuki's here!" They sang together, grabbing each other's hands and twirling around on the wooden floors before dancing off to go inform their mistress. Watanuki couldn't help but smile at the cute, childishness of it all. He closed the large doors and walked into the back room where Yuuko Ichihara sat sipping sake, the two soulless girls standing by her side. She had her long, beautiful black hair down so it flowed out and over the arm of the couch she was leaning on so that the ends rested on the floor. She had on a beautifully designed red kimono with gold trim and a blue sash, clashing wonderfully with her crimson eyes as they looked over at him mischievously, a little smirk rolling on her lips. The black Mokona rested on a pillow across from her, sipping its own cup of sake.

"Well, well, if it isn't our dear friend Watanuki." Yuuko started. "You're a little late, it seems." She said, the aura around her growing weary as well.

"Laaaate!" Maru and Moro sang together as they danced around the teen some more. Watanuki thought back earlier when he missed the bell at school because of daydreaming and staying a little later then intended just to avoid looking like an idiot in front of Doumeki.

"Sorry, I got distracted." Watanuki hastily apologized, knowing what punishments Yuuko could give him if she wanted to. "Are you going to add this to my tab?" The woman chuckled.

"No, I think I'll be generous today and let it slide." Watanuki sighed in relief as a glint appeared in the witch's eyes. "But first you have to go whip us up some teriyaki noodles. We're starving!"

"Yeah, we're famished!" The black Mokona added, jumping on the seer's face. Watanuki pried the creature off and formed his hands into fists angrily. Maru and Moro cheered in the background.

"Fine!" For once he thought that he was going to get a break with cooking.

Guess not.

The rest of the day flew by uneventful: Cooking, fetching sake, cleaning, cooking, fetching more sake, cleaning, and more sake. As it grew dark, Watanuki packed up his stuff to leave. Picking up his bag, Watanuki turned around he came face to face with the witch's mysterious eyes.

"You know White Day is next Friday, right?" she asked in a sly voice that sent chills down Watanuki's spine. He gulped.

"Y-yeah. What about it?" He reached down and began to slip on his shoes.

"Who are you going to give presents to?" She asked, a grin on her face. Watanuki sighed in frustration.

"Don't worry Yuuko, I promise to make you some—"

"I wasn't referring to myself, though some white chocolate does sound nice…" Watanuki raised an eyebrow.

"Then what are you talking about?" He asked. Yuuko let out a huff.

"I meant a friend!" She wrapped one of her long white arms around his shoulders and poked his cheek with a slender finger. "You know, like Himawari-chan…or even Doumeki~" Instantly Watanuki flushed.

"Himawari-chan I understand, but why would I make anything for _him_? I HATE the guy!" Yuuko laughed, pulling away from her part time worker.

"Come now, you don't hate him. You two have been through so much together, and you can't deny it: He's one of the closest friends you have." Watanuki turned even redder. Sure, he didn't _really _hate the guy, but he definitely didn't _like _him! At least not enough to make him a White Day gift.

"White Day is for giving presents to people, _girls_, you like! You know; a response to Valentine's Day?" Yuuko laughed again.

"You don't have to like someone to give them a gift! Think of it as a 'Social Obligation'. And they certainly don't have to be female."

"Whatever, I'm going home now!" Watanuki shouted, opening up the door and stepping outside.

"If you need some ideas on what to give him…" Yuuko continued like she didn't hear him, "…then you could always ask me."

"I'm NOT giving him anything! Why would you even BEGIN to think that I would?"

"Never mind," the witch said. "Just be careful on your way home. It's dark and you never know what could be lurking in the shadows." She smiled knowingly once again and followed Watanuki to the door. Watanuki turned around with a look of aggravation on his face.

"Fine," He murmured as he walked farther into the chilly night.

"See you tomorrow!" Yuuko called out, waving goodbye. "Oh, and don't forget to bring ingredients for teppanyaki_._" Watanuki growled and thought about how expensive the ingredients are. Then his mind drifted back to what the witch had told him earlier.

"_**You two have been through so much together, and you can't deny it: He's one of the closest friends you have." **_

"Yeah right," Watanuki mumbled as he turned the corner, "as if that guy can even be _considered_ a friend!" He walked down the eerily quiet street, once again lost in his own thoughts. _Well, I guess I do think of Doumeki _kind of_ as a friend. He goes with me on most of the missions Yuuko sends me on, knowing about how dangerous they can be, just to help protect me. He also saved me more times than I can count. And with his spirit-repelling blood, he keeps the annoying things away from me. _Watanuki stopped walking and looked down to the ground, the breeze blowing his hair slightly. _He actually does a lot for me, I guess, more than anyone has ever done for me before. And the way I treat him… _Watanuki snapped out of his thoughts and gripped his hair in rage, a look of discomfort forming on his pale face. "WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?"

_There's no way that I actually care for an idiot like him! I'm mean to him because he thinks I'm an idiot! I'm weak! He's the idiot, not me! _He stomped on the ground a few times then threw his hands into fists. "Fine, I'll make him a White Day gift, but ONLY to show my appreciation for everything he's done for me! That's IT!" Even as he said that, it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself more than anything else. Suddenly, he heard a flapping overhead and looked up to see the moon high in the sky. He gasped.

"I can't believe it's this dark already!" He quickly looked in all directions and began walking at a much quicker pace. "I'm surprised I haven't seen any spirits yet…" But he spoke too soon. Still walking at his frantic speed, Watanuki proceeded past some dark buildings and houses about halfway to his house. Feeling slight discomfort, he looked at the dark alley that sat between two buildings and the road that went through it. He stopped running.

As if drawn into the blackness the alley had to offer, he stood there staring at it, a blank look on his face. Feeling the urge to cross the street and walk down the dark road, the thoughts disappeared as he felt a sudden snake-like grip around his ankle, and his balance was lost as he went tumbling to the ground. Watanuki let out a yelp as he hit the pavement and his bag went sliding across the road towards the entrance of the alley. He looked down to see long tentacle limbs wrapped a few times around his torso and legs. The seer turned his head to see where the limbs were coming from, seeing them coming from the darkness cast upon the road by one of the tall buildings.

"Get the hell off me!" Watanuki screamed, trying to scramble away from the scary spirit. When he found this act to be useless with his legs bound, Watanuki panicked and began whacking the tentacles with his arms, struggling to break free. At last, one of the tentacles came off of his leg and he took full advantage of this by pulling away from the rest of the limbs and running over to grab his bag to take off running. However, right when he reached it a tentacle wrapped around his right leg and pulled him back down to the ground. "Stupid thing! LET ME GO!" The teen felt himself being dragged backwards and fear washed over him. He looked up ahead to where his bag sat and reached for it, hoping to use it as a weapon. However, his eyes looked into the darkness of the alley and suddenly he froze. _What's going on? _Watanuki thought as he continued staring into the alley, sudden warmth washing over him. A loud hissing noise was heard and the tentacles released him, falling back into the shadows. The seer gasped as he pried his eyes away from the darkness, sweat pouring off his face. Without a second thought, Watanuki grabbed his bag and ran in the direction of his house.

"What was up with that?" He asked himself as he grew farther and farther away from the area he was attacked in. "The spirit just backed off like it was on fire or something." Not that he was complaining, he just found in odd. The only time spirits acted that way was when he was around Doumeki, but he doubted that that jerk was anywhere near there. _Unless he was hiding in the alley, _Watanuki chuckled to himself. He ran past the temple where said person lived a wave of nausea hit him. He couldn't figure out why though. He then recalled the earlier thought that he had about actually caring for the archer and scowled. _The gift will be just to show my appreciation, just to show my appreciation, just to show my appreciation…_He repeated the meaning in his head and he walked into his apartment complex.

"I'm home," he called out to the emptiness. No response. _Shocker. _The boy thought. He threw his bag on the rack and sat on the couch. A shiver ran down his spine as he cautiously got up and looked all around the room. _It feels like I'm being watched, _he exclaimed as he took a final look and headed to his bedroom.

After he slipped on his pajamas, he laid down on the soft and inviting bed. Questions were running through his head at a hundred miles per hour and his heart was racing.

_When should I confess how I felt to Himawari-chan?_

_Would she still want to be my friend?_

_What about Doumeki?_

_Should I really give him something for White Day?_

_We aren't really friends, are we?_

_What was up with that spirit?_

_Why did it back away like that?_

_Why was I so attracted to that alley across the street?_

He rolled over and shoved his pillow over his head to try to ignore all of the stressful questions and just focus on sleep. After a while of just laying there Watanuki's mind wandered off to the memory of what happened with the ghost. He still felt the sting in his ribs from when he was tripped by the long tentacles. _Maybe I should tell Yuuko about this…_he thought. _Nah, it wasn't really that serious. _At least that's what he told himself. Then he started to think about what could have drawn the spirit back and away from him. _It happened when I got close to my bag…maybe there was something inside it? _He quickly shook off that possibility. The only things in that bag were books from school that he brought home for the weekend. He carried those books home with him many times before and they never did anything for him. Then his mind drifted back to the alley. _Maybe there was something inside that place. I kept on feeling like I was drawn to it, but why? Another spirit perhaps? _Maybe he was thinking too much into this. Maybe the spirit just decided it didn't want him anymore? This was driving him crazy!

"I should go back and have a look at that area again tomorrow when it's lighter." He thought that he should go and tell the archer about this but decided against it. _If it is a spirit, then I don't want him to scare it off before I get a chance to find out what it is. _Was that a bad idea? What if it was a dangerous spirit? His conscience nagged at him until he got a major headache. Growling, Watanuki plopped over on his stomach, face first in the pillow.

Enough was enough.

Watanuki emptied his mind and relaxed his muscles. He was going to sleep whether that annoying voice in his head wanted him to or not. After a while, sleep proved to be an easy task, and he drifted off into a deep slumber.

_Watanuki watched Doumeki from behind the base of a large oak tree. The archer appeared to be talking to someone. Then, Watanuki could feel himself falling into darkness, a cool feeling surrounding his body, almost like water. Suddenly, an image of him walking by the temple Doumeki lived at appeared. It was dark as Doumeki stepped out from the gate and addressed Watanuki, who turned around and collapsed. He couldn't move his arms as if something bound them. He was in darkness once again, though this time fuzzy images appeared. Trees that glowed a faint purple surrounded him as he lied down on the cold hard ground. A faint whisper could be heard, though what it was saying was unknown. Watanuki slowly covered his ears. The whisper grew louder until it was a muffled voice. Then it turned into a shout._

_"WATANUKI!"_


	2. Chapter 2

Watanuki jumped awake from his dream wildly, rolling off the side of the bed, tangling himself up in the blankets that came down with him.

"What the heck was that dream about?" He questioned as he looked all around the dimly lit room, sweat pouring off his face. The light of day crept in through the small cracks in the curtain. Watanuki turned towards his alarm clock that stood on the nightstand beside the bed. It read 6:47 a.m. _Might as well get up._ The seer thought as he wrenched himself free from the cocoon of blankets. _ Doubt I'd be able to sleep again after all of that anyways. _He debated whether telling Yuuko about this little incident too. _What's up with all of the weird things happening to me?_ He stopped for a second, contemplating what he just said. _Scratch that, what's up with all of the WEIRDER things happening to me?_ As he thought back about the dream, he found that he couldn't remember a single thing that happened. He froze. _That's odd, _he thought. "Why cant I…" He turned to walk out of the bedroom when all of a sudden his knees gave out and he went tumbling to the floor. Watanuki let out a gasp as he laid there for a few seconds, trying to figure what happened. Finally, he pushed himself up and reached over towards the doorframe. He gripped the wood and shakily stood up, using the frame to balance himself. "What happened? I felt fine a minute ago! Why would my legs just give out on me?" The strength in his legs came back and he walked slowly over to the kitchen. _Just take an easy, Kimihiro. _He told himself as he walked over to the counter and leaned on it.

He was definitely going to have to tell Yuuko about this.

Watanuki slowly walked to the door with his grocery list in his hand, reading the list of ingredients he would need for the teppanyaki. He wore a long gray sweatshirt with light blue jeans.

"Geez, these things are so expensive! I hope she plans on paying me back for all of this stuff." He gripped the list and it made a paper crumbling noise. _Who am I kidding? Of course she isn't! I swear, she thinks I'm her DOG! _He glanced back down at his legs. _Maybe I shouldn't go shopping today. What if I pass out next time instead of my legs giving out? It's a possibility since I don't know what's wrong with me._ Shaking his head free of the thoughts, Watanuki gripped the door handle and swung it open, just in time to see a very stoic looking Doumeki with his hand in the air, as if getting ready to knock. Watanuki jumped out of his skin.

"W-what the hell are you doing here?" The seer asked stepping back from the door. He looked at the taller man who stood in the doorway. He had on a white long sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans.

"Yuuko called me and asked if I could help you get the groceries." He simply replied. Watanuki raised an eyebrow.

"Why would she do that?" He questioned. Doumeki shrugged.

"Beats me."

"Well I don't need help! Just go home!" The seer huffed, staring daggers at the archer. Doumeki didn't even flinch. Instead, he merely shrugged and stepped back far enough to let Watanuki pass by.

"If you don't need my help then I'll come along and let you do all the work, carrying the groceries and everything." The seer fumed and balled his hands up into fists, turning towards the taller teen.

"No way! If you come along then you're helping!" He slammed his apartment door shut and locked it, shoving the key in his pocket. He walked by Doumeki who gave a small, barely noticeable smirk at his accomplishment. They walked out of the building in silence. It was pretty early so there weren't very many people out and about.

Watanuki paid close attention to his walking speed, not wanting a repeat of this morning. He figured that he collapsed due to getting up and out of bed faster then what he usually did. He was considerably slower than usual, but as long as Doumeki didn't ask about it he was going to be fine.

"Why are you walking so slow?" The archer asked, turning around and looking at the shorter teen. Watanuki mentally face-palmed himself as a list of excuses ran through his head that he could tell the golden eyed male. He didn't want to tell the archer the truth about what happened because then he would never leave him alone. Instead he used the next best thing: Lying.

"I-I'm still really tired. If you don't like it then go home!" Doumeki shrugged and continued walking beside the seer. It wasn't really a lie, after all; Watanuki was still pretty tired, but mainly didn't want to lose his footing again in front of the man. After a moment or two, Watanuki began to relax. It was pretty comfortable walking in the cool air and silence. Not to mention that thanks to Doumeki no spirits were bothering him. He felt…at ease. He even let out a sigh of contentment. He looked out of the corner of his eye to see the taller teen. Doumeki, of course, didn't have any trace of emotions on his face but for once Watanuki didn't mind. He had a solemn expression as he kept looking forward. Golden eyes met blue ones. Watanuki quickly looked away, deciding that talking would make the awkwardness of the eye contact they just shared better.

"S-so what did Yuuko say when she called? Did she really make you come help me when it's really early and cold outside?" he asked.

"She figured you were going to so some grocery shopping this morning, so she asked if I would help you," Doumeki replied after a moment. "She said to keep an eye on you. I would have come anyways, whether she called or not," Watanuki looked away, hiding his embarrassment, "then I could give you ideas on what to make for bentos." He added. The seer frowned and went off on the man about how he is a jerk and why he even bothers making him anything. Though, in the back of his mind, he was actually glad that he had someone to talk to and even looked forward to making the bentos for the archer.

Not that he'd ever admit it.

Watanuki walked through the grocery isle, looking for the last thing on his list. He scanned the shelves, his dark blue eyes browsing over all of the products. Looking up ahead, his eyes focused on what appeared to be a strangely designed food ad in the middle of the isle, leaving just enough space around it for people to be able to walk by it. It was an deep shade of purple with fuzzy looking objects in the background. There was a list of different types of noodles that that company made, however Watanuki paid no attention to the food part. _That shade of purple looks familiar…_ The thought of that particular color being in his dream flashed in his head. He stared at it longer, trying to place what the color was from in his dream. His knees started wobbling.

"Oi," Doumeki said to get the young man's attention as he walked up behind him. Suddenly, Watanuki fell backwards into the archer's arms. "Watanuki?" he asked as he helped said person sit on the ground.

"Sorry, you…scared me." Watanuki reassured the man as he stood up on his feet. Doumeki didn't buy it.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I feel fine, really." He really did. "You just scared me! I told you not to sneak up on me like that!" He tried his best to make his voice sound as annoyed as possible. _Why did this happen again? _He thought. Watanuki could tell that Doumeki was actually considering this thought. "Anyways, here are the noodles we need so let's get out of here." He grabbed a package out of the bottom of the ad poster board and held it up for the archer to see. Doumeki slowly nodded and, taking one last look at Watanuki, turned and walked up to the register. He turned just in time to miss seeing the shorter boy's knees shake once more before they stopped and he slowly walked up to the register.

"What time do you have to go to the shop?" Doumeki asked as the duo walked out of the store together.

"Why does it matter?" the seer shot back, a look of confusion on his face.

"I want ice cream." Doumeki stated simply. Watanuki fumed.

"So? What does that have to do with what time I work?" Doumeki plugged his ears as this was said since Watanuki practically screamed it at him. He unplugged them when he answered.

"I was going to buy us some if you had time to go with me." The seer froze for a moment, a plain look on his face. He shook his head and looked at his watch.

"U-uh, isn't it a little early for ice cream?" he asked. Doumeki shrugged.

"So?" he questioned. "I want some." The seer shook it off.

"Fine, I guess I could spare a moment for free ice cream." He mumbled, a faint tint of pink dusting his cheeks.

"…Thanks for the ice cream," Watanuki muttered to the archer as the two sat on the swings at the park in silence, the sounds of children playing surrounding them.

"Hmm?" Doumeki asked, taking another bite out of his ice cream cone.

"I said thanks for the ice cream!" the seer shouted to make sure he didn't have to repeat it again. Doumeki unplugged his ear and nodded.

"No problem." The two sat and, after a while, began to chat about small things like school, home, and work. Watanuki would scream at him every so often, but for the most part he actually smiled and talked to him like they had been friends forever. He looked off into the distance after a while to where the sidewalk was. He needed a distraction. His stomach had started to act up again and he felt nauseous about nothing. Or maybe it was something? _Spending time with Doumeki like this is somehow…nice. I could just sit here and be content. _He looked down at what was left of his vanilla ice cream. _I wonder…_

"Oi," there it was again, the voice that always snapped him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"Hungry." Watanuki looked at him a moment as if he was speaking another language. When he finally realized what he meant.

"W-what do you want me to do about it?" Watanuki asked, standing up to throw the rest of his cone away.

"Still got time before work?" Doumeki asked, standing up and following the seer.

"Yeah…?"

"Then let's go eat." With that, Doumeki turned and began to walk away. Watanuki shouted a 'hey!' and he ran to catch up with the archer.

"But we just had ice cream!" he screamed, waving his arms around wildly.

"So?" came the nonchalant response.

"I'm not cooking!"

"I wasn't planning on you to."

"Then where are we going?" Watanuki asked after a moment, a look of surprise evident on his face.

"I don't know." Watanuki could see that this conversation was going nowhere so he just opted to keep his mouth shut and followed Doumeki. He thought about just leaving to head home but he was actually having a good time with the taller teen, as much as he hated to say it. _I can't help shake the feeling that this is a..__. _Watanuki stopped just in time to avoid colliding with the archer's back. Just as he was about to yell he saw that they were in front of a small little restaurant.

"Here." Doumeki said as he looked back at the shorter male. Though it sounded like a statement Watanuki guessed it was supposed to be a question. Now it was his turn to shrug.

"I don't care." With that said Doumeki grabbed the silver handle of on the glass door and opened it, the duo stepped inside.

Watanuki sat across from Doumeki at their small little table. They just got done eating and were now just sitting there, talking about small little things.

"So what really happened at the store?" Doumeki asked after talking for a while (Watanuki did most of the talking, Doumeki mainly nodded his head). Watanuki looked at the archer in shock at the sudden change in conversation topics. His silent breathing quickened and his eyes looked around the room, trying to avert the hard stare that the tanner male was giving him.

"I told you already. You. Scared. Me. Got it?" Doumeki stared at Watanuki as a cue to go on but the seer stopped and crossed his arms to indicate he was done. The archer raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asked, still obviously skeptical. The seer nodded and avoided eye contact again. Whenever Doumeki looked at him like that it sent chills up his spine. Finally, after a few seconds, Doumeki stood up. "We should go. It's almost time for you to head to the shop," he said in his usual monotone voice. Watanuki jumped and looked at his watch.

"Ah! Your right!" He stood up and the two left.

The walk home was silent.

Not a content silence like earlier, it was more toxic. It made Watanuki breathe heavily since the air felt so thick. For a second Watanuki looked around to see if there were any spirits near but then realized that it was merely the tension between him and that archer. He racked his brain for things to say that would thin the air but found none. The bright side of the situation was that they were in front of the witch's shop. Watanuki sighed in relief.

"I, um, thanks, I-I mean, for today. It was…fun." He turned to walk away and get out of that situation as quickly as possible when a firm hand latched onto his shoulder, holding him back. Watanuki turned towards Doumeki in confusion, and saw the stern and serious look, along with a hint of worry on his face.

"Promise you'll tell me if something's wrong." Watanuki froze. There was no way that a simple accident in the grocery store could alert him to something being wrong. Maybe he knew about last night? With the spirit suddenly backing off of him? _Impossible. _Watanuki thought. But what could he say? 'Mind your own damn business?' He just couldn't bring himself to say no. The way those golden eyes locked into place with his was almost unbearable.

He wanted to run.

He wasn't sure where, but he didn't want to be there. His stomach lurched, a familiar emotion for him. Fear. He wasn't sure why the archer would want to make a promise like that, a promise which Watanuki wasn't so sure he could keep. There was really nothing wrong with him, so why was Doumeki so worried? Had he acted different or something? The seer wanted to scream at the taller male, tell him to go away and that there was no reason to say something like that. But, something in the back of Watanuki's mind told him that he was afraid of the hurt in those golden eyes if he denied the promise. But most of all he was afraid of hurting Doumeki with the promise. It was strange… Normally he would go off on the archer for something like this, telling him that he could handle himself, he wasn't a little kid in need of protection, or anything. But he couldn't. He wondered why all of these emotions were running through his mind, telling him not to hurt Doumeki. But he didn't want think about the reason. He _feared _the reason why he was so intent on not hurting Doumeki.

The grip on his shoulder tightened, telling him that it was time for an answer. A few more seconds ticked by before he gulped and pushed down the butterflies that gathered in his stomach.

"F-fine." That's it. To some random stranger, the reply might have sounded empty. But to Watanuki, after seeing the relief evident on his companions face as he nodded a goodbye and turned to leave, it felt as if a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

And a new one was placed on them.


	3. Chapter 3

Watanuki shot up from bed. He quickly glanced around at his small room and tried to calm his nerves.

It was the dream again.

Watanuki stretched to the right and squinted his eyes in the darkness to read what his alarm clock said. 12:37 a.m. He fell back onto his bed and inhaled deeply. _Why did I have that dream again? And why can't I ever remember it? _He mentally slapped himself for forgetting to tell Yuuko about it yesterday. _There was just so much that happened that day… _He remembered all how he spent the first part of the day with Doumeki. How they went to the store together, ate ice cream at the park, and even ate lunch at a restaurant. He remembered it all up to the time when he forced himself to make that promise. The thought sent chills down the seer's spine. He rolled over and closed his eyes. _Just forget all about that. Get some sleep. After all, I have school tomorrow. Err, today._ He emptied his mind but a thought came back to him:

_Will I have that dream again? _He lay there until all of a sudden his body felt heavy and his eyes were drooping.

"Wait…this…isn't…normal…" With that said he slipped into unconsciousness.

_**~&~**_

Doumeki watched as he finished sweeping the form of his shorter friend passing by the temple later then usual. It was Monday morning so he expected Watanuki to come by and complain about making his bento or something else that he did, but today he watched as the man just slugged by emotionless.

"Oi," Doumeki called out to get Watanuki's attention. The seer jumped up and turned towards the archer, as if just realizing where he was.

"W-what do you want?" Watanuki barked back. "And my name's not 'Oi'!"

"Is something wrong?" Doumeki stoically asked, looking at the droopy man. Watanuki blushed and avoided eye contact, focusing his attention on the seam of Doumeki's uniform.

"Nothing…I-I just overslept. I didn't have time to make lunch so you're stuck with cafeteria food. Serves you right!" Watanuki shouted, trying to distract the taller man from asking any more questions. The last thing he needed to be thinking about is the promise he made.

"Ah." Doumeki simply replied. He could feel something off about how the man was acting but he decided against asking anymore. Just as Watanuki turned to walk away Doumeki grabbed his arm and held him back. "Wait. Let me go grab my stuff and we can go to school together." Watanuki blushed a deeper shade and huffed a 'fine!' as the taller man ran inside the temple and he plopped down on the grass. _Man I feel weird. My breathing is a little faster then usual and my stomach is acting weird. I must be getting sick or something. _Doumeki ran back out with his shoulder bag and stopped in front of Watanuki. "Ready?" he asked. Watanuki quickly stood up.

"Yeah. Lets just go already. You're gonna make me late." The duo headed out onto the sidewalk and walked to the school in silence. Watanuki closed his eyes trying so slow his breathing. _Calm down! What the hell is wrong with me? _Maybe he _was_ sick. He felt fine until he walked up into the temple. _The only time I feel this way is when I'm around Himawari-chan or Dou…meki…_ He opened his eyes to notice that he stopped walking and Doumeki was staring at him as if trying to put something together.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "You seem worn out."

"I'm fine! Enough with the questions already!" In truth, he wasn't as fine as he tried to make Doumeki believe he was. He was oddly nervous and his stomach still felt odd, but his breathing was almost back to normal. That was a plus. Doumeki reached out and put his hand on Watanuki's forehead.

"You might have a fever. Your cheeks are really red." Watanuki pulled away turning even redder, if at all possible.

"You idiot! I don't have a fever!"

"Your right. You don't feel warm." Then a thought popped into his head. "Has Yuuko sent you on any weird missions lately?" Watanuki realized that he wasn't going to stop until he was sure he was all right. Then an idea formed in his head.

"Speaking of Yuuko, I…uh…forgot to bring the…thing she gave me! I have to go home and get it!"

"I'll go—" Before Doumeki had a chance to finish Watanuki was halfway down he road shouting 'I'll meet you at school!' The man stared for a moment debating whether or not he should follow.

_**~&~**_

Watanuki turned down a familiar alley unknowingly in order to catch his breath. _Why…did I just to that? _"He just wanted to know if I was okay... Grr! Him and that stupid promise!" He slammed the side of his hand into the brick wall. "It's making me all nervous!" Then a pang of guilt struck Watanuki hard in the chest. _It's not like it's his fault… _"Err…yes it is!" the seer pulled on his hair. "No way am I sticking up for him! …But…why is this happening?" Every time he thought about it he would blush and get nervous, just like with Himawari-chan. He tried to recall when this all started. _Maybe it's always been like this and I just noticed…_

Then a thought hit him.

"No, no, no, no, NO! I HATE that guy! Why would I—" a snickering appeared in the background causing Watanuki to blush and spin around quickly, trying to come up with some excuse as to why he was talking to himself.

"I-I uh—" Watanuki started but then he stopped in his tracks. First of all, he was in the same alley that he was attacked by the other day. And second of all…

There was no one there.

"Wah?" Watanuki questioned when he heard the snickering closer this time. He turned back around towards the opening of the alley, which seemed to be farther away then when he came in. _This must be… _"A spirit?!" The young man shouted as he turned back around to see a black form with purple swirls rise out of the ground to about his height.

"Not exactly." A raspy voice answered in response. Watanuki shuttered and gulped loudly.

"Who—err—what are you?!" He shouted at the form that seemed to only get larger. The form grew even larger and started expanding into the brick walls. A raspy growl was heard and the purple ectoplasm started reaching out for the seer. With that Watanuki made a break for the exit, only to turn and find that there was none. Everything has gone jet black and his body felt like it was on fire. He yelled for help and ran as straight as possible. He tried to keep on running but the pain he felt bit at him bit by bit until he started to slow down. His stomach tied in knots as the raspy voice entered his ears.

"No…Not quite ready…" That gave Watanuki enough motivation to continue running just a bit further, but then he felt his legs buckle under him. He reached his arm out as he headed straight for the ground and something latched onto him.

"What are you doing?"

Watanuki looked up slowly to see himself on his knees with his arm outstretched and Doumeki holding onto it. He looked around quickly. He was still in the alley but the front was right in his grasp and not far away like earlier. In fact, it was like he never even moved.

"Y-you didn't s-see it?" The seer gasped as he stood up shakily. Doumeki looked confused for a moment.

"See what?" _Maybe…I was imagining it? _Watanuki straightened up at this hopeful thought.

"Oh, never mind. I-I thought I saw a big spider or something." Even if he wasn't imagining it, there was no way he was going to ask Doumeki for help anyways. Doumeki almost bought it, but just in case he asked:

"Are you sure?" Watanuki nodded and continued out of the alley, the archer close behind.

_**~&~**_

School went by uneventful.

When lunch rolled around, Watanuki met Himawari and Doumeki under the large tree in the schoolyard.

"Sorry I didn't make lunch for you Himawari-chan. I woke up later then usual." The seer apologized.

"That's okay, Watanuki-kun!" the cheerful girl replied. "I have to go meet up with some friends for lunch anyways. Thanks anyways!" The two exchanged goodbyes and Himawari ran off, her long pigtails bouncing behind her. Now it was just he and Doumeki. Watanuki leaned back in the shade and rested his upper back against the tree trunk.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Doumeki asked. Watanuki shifted in his spot and closed his eyes.

"No. I'm not really hungry. Just really tired."

Sleep…

The archer went silent and Watanuki almost fell asleep until the monotone voice brought him back from the peace.

"What were you doing this morning?" A small grunt came from the seer and he sat up.

"It's none of your business! I said I would meet you at school so what were you doing following me?" That came out a little harsher then usual and Watanuki actually regretted what he said.

"I was worried about you." Doumeki replied simply. Watanuki stood up and glared at the man.

"There's no need to worry. I told you already that if there were anything wrong then I'd tell you! Now I'm going somewhere else to sleep so if you don't mind…" With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Doumeki speechless. _Why did I just do that? _He stopped walking once he felt like he was a good distance away and plopped onto the grass. _I was a real jerk. He didn't even do anything wrong. _Watanuki decided that he would have to apologize to Doumeki later, but right now something else was on his mind.

Sleep…

It sounded so good right now. _Just until lunch is over…I'll wake up when the bell rings to get back to class…_Watanuki lay down in the shady spot, just under a sakura tree. His eyes fluttered closed and he began to fall asleep. _No, wait… _He opened his eyes. _I don't want to have that dream again… _he heard the bell ring but he didn't move.

Sleep… It was that thought again. Was it even his own? Ugh, I can't. That dream… he felt his body go numb and his eyelids grew heavy. What? This is just like last night…can't…

Sleep.

Watanuki passed out.


	4. Chapter 4

The seer awoke to the sight of Himawari shaking him.

"Wah…?" He asked when he looked at the girl with a boggy expression.

"Finally your awake!" She cheered happily. "I was worried when I saw you laying out here on the ground." Watanuki flashed back to when he got here. It was just after leaving Doumeki. "Are you okay?" the brown-eyed girl asked.

"Yeah…I was just out here taking a nap before class started." Himawari tilted her head thoughtfully.

"Class is over. When I got up to leave I saw you out here so I came to see if you were okay." Watanuki gasped.

"What?! Oh man I'm in BIG trouble!" Himawari giggled.

"It's okay, I heard Doumeki tell the teacher that you went home not feeling well. I think he knew you were out here." Watanuki relaxed a little and felt even guiltier for being so rude to the archer earlier. "Is something wrong?" Himawari asked.

"N-no, nothing." Watanuki smiled and stood up. "We should get going." The girl, feeling that something was wrong, nodded and stood up anyways and gave the seer one last look of sympathy before waving and running off in another direction.

Watanuki stood there alone. Suddenly a thought hit him.

"Yuuko-san!" He took off running in the direction of the shop. _Now's the perfect time to ask her what the hells wrong with me! _He spent the whole run up there organizing the list of things that have been happening from worst to, uh, less worse but still pretty damn bad. He stopped in front of the gate to the shop and took in a deep breath. His first instinct was to turn and run. _That's odd. The last time I felt like that was the first day I came here. _He pushed open the gate and approached the old looking building where crescent moons sat almost everywhere you look. It gave the shop a feeling of mystery. He gripped the door handle and pulled open the large door stepping inside. He immediately felt a feeling of emptiness and released his breath he didn't know he was holding. Maru and Moro came running down the hall.

"Yay, it's Watanuki!" They cheered in sync, grabbing onto his arms. The seer gave a small smile and pulled away.

"Where's Yuuko-san?" He asked.

"The mistress went away." Maru explained.

"She'll be back in a few days." Moro added. They took off running into another room hand in hand and came back with a small piece of paper. It read:

_**Watanuki-kun,**_

_**I've been called away at the last minute. Don't worry about stopping by the shop during the next couple of days. If things go as planned then I should be back Friday. I'll give you a call when you get home after leaving here.**_

_**-Yuuko**_

Watanuki burned holes in the paper with his death-like glare.

"Of course, just when I ACTUALLY need her she goes and runs off doing who knows what!" He pulled at his hair. "Why does this always happen to me?!" He fell to his knees and put his head on the table in defeat. "Argh! Why _Friday?_" He shot up. "Friday?! That's when White Day is! I haven't even thought about what to make Himawari-chan or Doumeki yet!" He looked back at the note and crumpled it up, shoving it in his pocket. "Err, whatever." Watanuki said, getting back on track. "You said you'd call me when I get home right? Then I'm off!" He took off running down the hall and back out the front door._ What a waste of my time._

_**~&~**_

Doumeki stood out in front of the temple doing his late afternoon chores. A lot of things were on his mind but he tried to block them out so that he could concentrate on sweeping. _There's something going on that he's not telling me. _That was the main thing on the archers mind. He knew that he was being really nosey and didn't blame the seer when he blew up on him. He was just worried. What really worried him was that ever since the two left that alley he could sense spiritual pressure around the shorter man. He remembered how he found the man falling to his knees in a daze with his arm outstretched, as if reaching for something. He could sense spiritual pressure everywhere until he grabbed Watanuki's arm. It all just suddenly disappeared after that. It really came out whenever the two argued. Was he imagining it? He doubted it. He was never wrong when it came to things like this. What he couldn't quite figure out was where the pressure was coming from. He never _saw _anything, and Watanuki never made any remarks about seeing something like he usually did when a spirit was around. Maybe the pressure was coming from the seer himself? Doumeki didn't throw this idea out completely, but he highly doubted it. _Not too many spirits can just go around and possess people. _Plus, Watanuki didn't really show any signs of a possession. At least nothing noticeable. Still, Doumeki shook off that thought. But if it wasn't that, then what else could it be? He gripped his broom in anger and threw it to the ground, deciding to give up on sweeping for the day. His parents wouldn't notice considering they were away at the moment and wouldn't be back until next week. Besides, it felt like all he ever did was sweep. He sighed and bent over to pick up the old sweeper when he heard a shuffling of footsteps and looked up to see Watanuki run by in a big rush. _Wonder what he's up to. _He thought back to earlier when Watanuki slept through the last three classes they had out on the side of the school. Doumeki had a feeling that it wasn't a good idea to wake him so he let him sleep, making up the excuse that he went home sick. The teacher never said another word about it. Doumeki turned to head back into the temple to finish his chores.

He'd ask about it later.

_**~&~**_

Watanuki threw open the door and burst into the apartment with lightning speed. No sooner did he do so the phone rang on the receiver that sat in the kitchen. The seer dove over the table in an attempt to reach the phone faster, but failed miserably and ended up falling onto the floor. He slowly stood up, rubbing his back to ease the pain. _She better not say anything about me being slow to get the phone after this. _He thought as he hit the talk button on the small device. As if she read his mind, Yuuko started out the conversation by saying:

"It's about time." Watanuki growled into the receiver.

"What?! The phone hasn't even been ringing for 10 seconds!" Yuuko let out a small chuckle.

"Yes but I've been waiting all day for you to get home."

"Well _sorry_!" He replied sarcastically. "Maybe next time you give me a warning or something telling me you're gonna leave!"

"Watanuki-kun." Yuuko's voice grew serious. "As much fun as teasing you is, I don't have much time. I know about the problems your having."

"Good! W-what should I—"

"I have only one piece of advice to give you."

"What?"

"Don't think about it." Watanuki stood silently, staring into space as if time froze.

"…What?"

"It's as I just said. Don't think about it."

"Think about what?" Watanuki was getting a little angry at how simple this answer was.

"I can't give you anymore information or else that'd be interfering. But, if you don't know what you're not supposed to be thinking about, then just don't think about the whole situation you're in. There's nothing you can do about it anyways." Watanuki was silent when Yuuko added: "I have to go now. Just hold out until Friday and stick close to Doumeki. I'm sure he won't mind." A giggle was heard and Watanuki turned bright red.

"WHATS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" A louder laugh was heard on the other side of the phone.

"Oh, and Watanuki-kun."

"What." Watanuki muttered, though it sounded more like a statement then a question.

"Be safe." The phone went dead and the conversation was over, but Watanuki still held the device to his head like it hadn't.

"_**Be safe."**_

_What did she mean by that? Is something bad going to happen? _What about the first warning the witch gave him?

"…_**What?" **_

"_**It's as I just said. Don't think about it."**_

Too bad he didn't know what he wasn't supposed to be thinking about.

This was going to be a long night.

_**~&~**_

Watanuki sat at his desk Tuesday morning. He let out a big yawn and set his head on his hand to help keep it up. The seer arrived earlier then usual so he was one of the few people in the class. He spent all night trying to comprehend what the witch's words were being directed to. _She told me not to worry about it, but that makes me worry even more! _His brain hurt. _Grr! She knew this would happen! She loves seeing me suffer! _He closed his eyes. _What am I not supposed to be thinking about?_

_Sleep._

There was that word again. It, once again sounded really nice, but it didn't feel like it was his inner thoughts thinking it. He stifled a yawn to prove an unknown point and resumed thinking. _Maybe that's what I shouldn't be thinking about? Sleeping? _Though it seemed likely, sleep didn't hurt him at all. In fact, he thought about it almost every unoccupied second of the day. It seemed like sleep was all he needed to live on nowadays, considering he had been to exhausted to do anything else like cook or eat.

"Oi," Watanuki slowly lifted his head up.

"Hey." Doumeki was actually a little surprised at how Watanuki reacted. He didn't even make a big deal about not even saying his name.

"You look sick." The archer stated.

"No, just tired. I haven't been sleeping well."

"Ah." A thought flashed in the seer's head.

"S-sorry I blew up on you yesterday. I don't really know what came over me." He said it with such emotion that Doumeki actually felt like he should give the shorter man a reassuring hug or something else. Instead he just nodded.

"It's fine." Watanuki lowered his head back into his arms and the taller man sat at his desk beside his. It was silent until the bell rang and students started pouring in.

"So much for some peace and quiet." Watanuki mumbled. He lifted his head up to try to pay attention to what the teacher was talking about. After he figured out that that would be impossible he settled to just thinking about what he wasn't supposed to be thinking about again. _If only there was a clue…_He thought back to how all of the weird things started happening. _Saturday, when I saw that ghost disappear by the alley is when this all started. _He recalled how he collapsed the next day when he got out of bed. _That was really weird. It's been happening a lot lately. _He remembered how the same thing happened when he and Doumeki went to the store. He remembered how he laid in bed some nights and would just pass out, but not due to being tired. _Maybe the collapsing has been getting bad enough to knock me unconscious. _This thought scared him. _What the hell is causing all of this? _He thought back to yesterday. Now that he thought of it, he knew he heard the bell ring to get back into class. He knew he had to get up but he fell asleep.

No he didn't.

He passedout. _But…why? _He, once again thought back to the first time it happened. _Maybe it was something I was thinking about?_ The first night he collapsed was the first night he had that—

"Dream." He whispered. Doumeki looked over in confusion to see Watanuki sitting up with his eyes wide open, staring into space. When he woke up on Saturday morning, he thought about that weird dream and collapsed. In the store the color purple reminded him of that dream and he collapsed. Before he fell asleep he constantly thought about whether or not he was going to have that dream and he passed out suddenly. It was all because of that dream! Then something hit him.

He was just thinking about that dream.

He felt his arms start to get heavy and his breathing quickened. He shakily stood up and walked down the isle, gripping the sides of desks to keep his balance. The room was spinning.

"Watanuki-san?" The teacher asked.

"S-sorry…just have to…to go…outside…" He didn't want to be in the classroom when this happened. He needed to get out of there. He began to sway back and forth. Even if he did make it out, where would he go? The door was just a few feet ahead of him. _Come on…_ He fought against his sudden drowsiness but failed and he fell to the floor.

_**~&~**_

The seer shot up. He was no longer in the classroom. Instead, when he looked around he saw white walls, a curtain that went around where he laid, a desk, and a few beds that were off to the left and right of him. Watanuki realized he was laying on one of the beds as well. He lay back down and looked over to see Doumeki sitting in a chair right by his bed.

"Where…am I?" Watanuki asked as he stretched his arms and used them to prop himself up once more, finding it odd to lie down in front of the archer.

"Infirmary." Watanuki was silent. He got cold chills from the harshness in the mans voice but tried his best to hide it.

"H-how long did I sleep for?"

"You slept until about an hour after school got out."

"I-I'm sorry, I have to go." Watanuki threw his legs over the bed and stood up, only to be pushed back down by Doumeki. The archer held the boy down by his shoulders so that there was no way the guy could move. "W-what are you doing?!"

"Tell me what's going on. Now." Watanuki has never heard the archer talk like that. He sounded…angry. It surprised him and he couldn't do anything but stare in shock. Doumeki, at this moment made him feel small. His golden eyes locked into his noticeably duller blue ones and Watanuki wished he could fade into the bed, turn invisible, or something to make the archer look away. With that said, Doumeki brought his face even closer and tightened his grip on Watanuki's shoulders. Suddenly, something came over the seer and his fear faded. His face went emotionless and his voice, calm and collected, responded:

"I'll tell you when I find out myself." Doumeki stared as the once, bright face that was usually full of some type of emotion, turned dark and pale and devoid of life. Dark energies filled the room as he released his grip and the shorter man smirked darkly.

"Is everything okay in here?" The nurse asked as she entered the room with the two boys in it. She spotted the seer sitting up in the bed and smiled warmly. "Oh good your up! I was really worried!" She walked over and put her hand on Watanuki's forehead.

"I'm fine now, Seiko-san." Watanuki smiled assuringly. She continued asking questions and wrote him a note saying he should stay home for a few days to catch up on some rest. After she left Doumeki, who had been sitting in the corner chair to avoid being in the way stood up and faced the seer, who stood up as well to leave. Just as the shorter man walked passed the archer, his supposed stoic voice that was now filled with anger addressed Watanuki.

"Who are you?"


	5. Chapter 5

The seer bowed his head and slowly brought it back up. The dark pressure fell instantly and the boy, blue eyes still dull, looked over at the archer in confusion.

"Did you say something?" He asked. Doumeki's expression softened just a hair and he shook his head.

"No." he mumbled. The shorter man stood there for a second longer and looked in his hand to see the small white slip of paper.

"Huh? A note?" He silently asked himself. He unfolded it and read it. _Wow, I didn't even see the nurse walk in._ He chuckled when he read the nurse's neat handwriting saying that he was to stay home until Thursday or Friday. All the while Doumeki stood in the corner, watching.

_So it was that after all…_the archer thought to himself. Watanuki looked up, embarrassed after spacing out.

"W-well I should get going. Bye." He turned back around to head out. He didn't get very far though when the archer stopped him.

"Watanuki." Said person jumped.

"What?" he asked. Doumeki opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. How should he tell his friend that he was possibly being possessed? How would he take it? Maybe he should calmly explain the situation, then, a little at a time, slowly tell the man…

"Watanuki-kun!" Both men turned down the hall to see the cheerful, pigtailed girl running down the hall towards them.

"Himawari-chan!" Watanuki smiled brightly. "What are you doing here at the school this late?" Himawari looked at him as if he just asked her why the sun shines.

"Why, I stayed to check up on you of course! I heard what happened. You had me so worried! I went to the infirmary but you were sleeping so I just waited around here until you woke up, helping the Class President around the school." Watanuki blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that." He said. The girl smiled brightly.

"Oh well! As long as you're fine then it doesn't matter! Just go home and get some rest okay?" Watanuki yawned and nodded and, along with Himawari happily chatting away, they walked out of the building. Doumeki guessed that this meant their conversation was over.

_**~&~**_

Watanuki opened the door and collapsed onto his bed. He didn't even bother to take off his school uniform or his glasses. He was just so exhausted and he didn't have the strength to bother with the little things. All he wanted to do was sleep. _Heh, that's shocking. _He thought to himself. _All I did the past couple of days was sleep it seems. _He closed his eyes and all of his thoughts faded, sending only the familiar flashing images of the strange reoccurring dream.

The large oak tree, falling into darkness, the faint whispers, it all seemed like a distant memory. He could remember parts of it but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember everything. It was like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle that had missing pieces. Watanuki stood there, eyes closed. He felt a soft, warm breeze blow across his face and he slowly opened them to reveal the temple Doumeki resided in.

"Why am I here?" he asked as he looked around. It was dark out and the moon stood in the middle of the sky, giving everything a soft glow. Suddenly Watanuki jumped as he felt a hand pressed against his shoulder and turned around and stared into the eyes of Doumeki Haruka. "H-Haruka-san!" the seer exclaimed as he saw the smile appear on the spirit's face.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" Haruka asked, giving the boy a grin. Watanuki nodded.

"Yeah. Why am I here?" Haruka's smile faded and his face turned serious.

"I wanted to tell you something. Something important." He led Watanuki over to the steps of the temple and they both sat down.

"What?" The seer asked, curious to know what was going to be said. Haruka raised a finger to his lips.

"Shhh. We're not the only ones here so I need you to be quiet." Watanuki was confused. If this was his dream then how could there be anyone else in it? He nodded and Haruka continued in a soft tone. "That dream you keep on having, it's not a dream."

"Then what else could it be?" Watanuki asked a little too loudly. "Oh!" And he slapped his hand over his mouth.

"It's a premonition. Something that's going to happen."

"But…then why would _I_ be having it? It makes no sense!" Watanuki's heart raced at this new information.

"The other day when you were being attacked by that spirit, without knowing it you were attacked by something else…a powerful force, much stronger then a spirit. A fragment of it latched onto your subconscious and caused you to have that vision, and you will keep having that vision until it happens." He leaned in closer so he could talk softer. "Then the other day when you were in that same place that fragment reacted to the creature it came from and created an opening in your mind, allowing for more of it to enter."

"Wait…that's ridiculous." The lump in Watanuki's throat caused his voice to crack. "If what your saying is true then…I'm being possessed?" Haruka's gaze softened.

"No, not quite. I can't give you the full details, but I can tell you that the force isn't completely whole inside you, thanks to the unexpected interruption by my grandson." A pit swelled up in Watanuki's stomach.

"D-Doumeki?" Haruka nodded.

"He saved you, whether he realized it or not. The force would have been able to go in all at once and wait until you were suitable enough to possess. Now listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you." The old man who appeared as a splitting image of the archer leaned in even closer. "I don't want to scare you, but Yuuko was right. Don't think about that premonition. If you keep on thinking about it then you allow a little more of the spirit to enter. Just—" The ground started shaking like jello, and the world around Watanuki started…melting. His dream was going away.

"What's going on?!" Watanuki gasped as he tried to keep his balance from the wobbly ground.

"Damn! It heard us!" Watanuki turned to see Haruka evaporating into little pixel-like fragments.

"H-Haruka-san!" Watanuki cried.

"Listen, Watanuki. No matter what you have to—!"

Watanuki shot out of bed and collapsed onto the hard floor. He looked around and was relieved to find out that he was back in his own apartment and not in some crazy place like he was in that dream.

That dream…

Watanuki's breathing quickened as he remembered all of what Haruka had said. _So a force that is worse then a spirit is partly possessing me. Great. _He recalled back to the alley that day before he went to school.

"_**A spirit?!" The young man shouted as he turned back around to see a black form with purple swirls rise out of the ground to about his height.**_

"_**Not exactly." A raspy voice answered in response.**_

_That must be the thing that's inside of me… If it's not a spirit then what the hell could it be? _That burning sensation he felt when he encountered that thing must have been from when more of it was entering his mind. But why would it want him? His blood?

_**His stomach tied in knots as the raspy voice entered his ears.**_

"No…not quite ready…"

So…if it weren't for his…for Doumeki, then he would be fully possessed? He was so confused he felt anger swell up in his throat and his face burned. He gripped his head and curled into his legs. _Why me? _He stayed like for a while until he stood up and looked over at the alarm clock. It was 5:47 a.m. He was asked not to go to school today or tomorrow, so the amount of sleep he didn't get didn't worry him too much. He was just going to sit around the house all day. Good thing too since he had so much on his mind and to worry about that he didn't think he could get to sleep again anyways.

_Sleep._

Then again, maybe he could.

_**~&~**_

Doumeki slapped his hand over his eye and sat up in bed. He looked around the room to make sure no one was in there with him, and then he lay back down. His hand was still attached to his face as the tingling sensation faded.

"That dream…" He whispered to the darkness. The past week he has been seeing the same images come together. It wasn't his dream he was seeing though, he was sure of that.

It was Watanuki's.

Which was worse.

He didn't want to say anything to the seer; that might make him uncomfortable. _But what does it mean? _The dream came to him so easily it seemed because Doumeki took the place of himself, or what the shorter boy would see. He remembered seeing a pained expression on the man's face before he took off in a sprint, dropping a small parcel. Doumeki didn't really pay much attention to that, he just wanted to see what was wrong and why that pained face was directed to him. He recalled going to the temple for some reason… and seeing Watanuki when he got out. Then Doumeki remembered darkness enveloping him, and being afraid. But why would Watanuki be dreaming this?

_Maybe it was because of this spirit?_

"Then this whole thing would have started…Friday or Saturday." He said to himself. It was early Wednesday morning now, which means that Watanuki has been suffering almost a week of this. Doumeki growled in his throat. He hated the thought of his closest friend suffering like that and not telling him.

"_**Promise you'll tell me if something's wrong." **_

_**"S-sure."**_

He lied about getting a call from Yuuko, just so that he'd have a reason to be close to Watanuki to make sure he was all right. He made Watanuki promise to tell him if something was wrong, and he didn't, even though Doumeki already knew what was wrong. _Those dreams…_

That's it.

Doumeki stood up and switched on the light.

He was going to pay someone a little visit, whether he wanted him to or not.


	6. Chapter 6

Doumeki stood at the door to the small apartment just like he did four days ago. It was really early…would the seer even be awake? _No. _The archer thought, considering how much he's been sleeping the last couple of days. _But I'll wake him. _He raised his hand and knocked fiercely, only to be greeted by silence. He shrugged and opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked.

"Oi," Doumeki called out as he stepped inside. He walked down the hall and up to the door of the only bedroom. Silently he stepped inside to see the seer on the floor sleeping. He rushed over by the man's side and gripped his arm. "Watanuki!"

"Wagenurhg…" Watanuki muttered as he looked at the stoic form of his friend. At first the seer showed no emotion on his face until his mind caught up with him and he shot up.

"D-Doumeki! W-what are you doing here?" The taller man said nothing as he grabbed the side of the seer's face in an attempt to force eye contact. Watanuki softened to the touch immediately and didn't make an attempt to move or complain. Doumeki's gaze softened and he leaned in closer.

"You're being influenced by a spirit." He said.

"…I know." Watanuki replied in a sigh and pulled back. Doumeki's hand lingered in the air a second longer before being put back down at his side.

"You know?" Doumeki repeated, confused. Watanuki carefully stood up and gave a small shrug.

"Yeah, it's…no big deal." He said mostly to assure himself. "I have…everything under control." The seer shakily walked over to the doorway, his back towards the archer. Doumeki angrily stood and followed behind him.

"'Under control'?" He asked, his voice rising slightly. "You can hardly keep yourself awake during the day. You passed out at school, missed class due to sleeping during lunch, can't stand up on your own, and you black out and can't remember what you were doing. How is that having everything 'under control'?" Watanuki was surprised by Doumeki's response, and his dull eyes became wide. A pained expression stained his face as he realized that the archer was right. He bowed his head low, gripped the door frame to keep his balance, and turned towards the taller man.

"You're…right." He forced out a laugh. "But…I can hold out until Friday…when Yuuko comes back I'll be fine." Doumeki growled in his throat and forcefully grabbed the blue eyed man's shoulders.

"Those dreams…" He started. "What if you can't hold out until Friday? Call the witch! Have her help you _now._" Watanuki gasped at the mention of the dreams, no, the _premonitions _in shock.

"How did you—" He started when Doumeki placed his hand over his eye.

"I saw it. Now call the witch." Watanuki shook his head.

"I already talked to her. She said…there's nothing I can do until she's here." Doumeki frowned. "Please," the seer continued, a sad smile on his face, "don't worry about me."

Watanuki was scared. Not because he was possessed, but because of how he was treating Doumeki. Normally he'd be yelling at the archer to leave his apartment, to go off and mind his own business, but he actually was glad he was here. He hated him, yet he was happy that he cared. He forced himself to admit the one thing he never thought possible;

They have gotten closer.

"Don't say that." Doumeki demanded. "I'm going to help you whether you want me to or not." The pressure in the room rose a little as the archer saw the little light in the seer's eyes dim.

"You... Can't... Help... Me... Please…I…." Doumeki stared in shock at the voice coming out of the shorter man's mouth. It wasn't his, but something darker and evil.

"I _will_ help you." Doumeki calmly replied, unsure of what he should do. "Watch me." The pressure rose even more. After a moment or two Watanuki threw his head back and began to laugh.

"That's it. Just keep on making him grieve. It only makes me stronger." A chill went down the archer's spine and he stepped back, staring in surprise.

"…What?" He asked as the possessed man's face went blank and he stepped towards Doumeki.

"Fear…Despair…it's delicious. The more he feels these things, the stronger I get." Doumeki stared into the once blue eyes that now were a dull red. He was scared, but he wouldn't let this thing feel satisfied in knowing it.

"So you feed off of emotions?" Doumeki asked. The creature closed his eyes and smiled.

"Yes, and every time he's around you there's an abundance of them." The archer gripped his fists until his knuckles turned white.

"What do you want with Watanuki?" He demanded to know. Suddenly, the creature gripped his sides and fell to his knees in pain.

"No…still not ready…yet…" He groaned as he looked up at the taller man who was staring in concern. "Once I get…this body…you'll…find out…" He let out another shriek of pain and collapsed onto the floor.

"You won't get his body. Not if I can help it." Doumeki told the creature. A small laugh was heard.

"It's only a matter of time…" Watanuki's body went limp and the archer rushed over to him.

"Watanuki." He called as he shook the smaller body. "Watanuki!" There was no response. Doumeki fell to his knees and rested his face in his hands.

"_**So you feed off of emotions?"**_

"_**Yes, and every time he's around you there's an abundance of them."**_

_Am…I doing this to you?_ A weight felt as if it was added to the archer's shoulders, and his mind was racing. He looked over at the seer with a rare sad expression. Suddenly a gasp was heard and Watanuki started moving violently, thrashing his arms around in an attempt to roll over and sit himself up.

"Watanuki." Doumeki said concerned as he helped the out-of-breath man sit up.

"D-Doumeki…" Watanuki gasped. "…I-I-I'm sorry!" He blushed as he avoided eye contact with the taller man and forced himself to scoot backwards, closer to the wall. "I-I didn't mean too…! I-I…!" He felt ashamed. This was the first time he actually saw what was going on whenever he blacked out, and he didn't like what he heard and said.

"Watanuki…" Doumeki said as he stood up and silently walked over to the man. Watanuki watched nervously as the tall figure approached him and kneeled down.

He wasn't prepared for what happened next.

A gasp escaped the seer's lips as strong arms pulled him forward and wrapped around his trembling. His shaking ceased as he sat there, arms dangling by his side and his eyes looking ahead in shock over the shoulder of his enemy-turned-friend. Doumeki was…hugging him?

"D-Doumeki…?" Watanuki asked. There was no answer, so they sat like that for a few minutes. Watanuki's eyes softened and he relaxed his muscles. His eyes began to feel heavy but he blinked them a lot to hold back the feeling of wanting to sleep again. The embrace was just _so_ warm.

"I'm sorry." The archer finally spoke. The hug was broken as Doumeki stood up and turned to walk away. Watanuki didn't move and he was too shocked to speak. What did he do? Why was he apologizing? Suddenly, the darker skinned man stopped and turned back around, facing the confused blue-eyed man with an intense glare. "I'm going to help you, so hold on just a little longer." With that, he turned and walked away. Watanuki sat there for a while longer, brain still processing what was going on.

"_Wow, he must care a lot for you." _A dark voice chuckled.Watanuki jumped and looked around his room.

"You…" He gasped. Another chuckle was heard.

"_So you can finally hear me? That's a good sign." _A chill went down the seer's spine at hearing that statement.

"W-What are you talking about?" Watanuki asked, trying to stand up and finding that his legs weren't working.

"_As I'm sure you already heard earlier, I feed off of your emotions. Well, the bad one's at least. Every time you feel upset, sad, angry, or anything of the sort I get stronger." _Watanuki gulped. _"You've been feeling a lot of negative emotions lately, enough to make me stronger and my bond with you tighten, which allows you to be able to hear me. Now I have more control over your body, and at this rate it won't be much longer until it's MY body."_ Watanuki tightened his fists and gripped his head.

"No…!" He said as he leaned forward and angrily rocked himself back and forth. "W-Why are you even in my body?" A sigh was heard and Watanuki stopped. He could feel the creature smiling and it made him sick.

"_I wouldn't be in your body anymore if you never made that promise to that man." _Watanuki looked up in shock.

"_**Promise you'll tell me if something's wrong."**_

"_**S-sure."**_

"What d-do you mean?" Watanuki asked, starting to shake.

"_After I saw that you had little negative emotions that I could feed off of, I was about to leave and find a better host. However, after you made that worthless promise and your grief started to build, I decided to happily stay." _

"That promise was NOT worthless!" The seer growled.

"_Then why didn't you keep it? Why didn't you tell your pathetic friend about your pain? About the vision you saw night after night that is making you so weak? He knew all about me and he didn't find out from you."_ A lump formed in the seer's throat as he went silent. It was all true. He was a horrible friend and a pathetic excuse for a person. He— A chuckle was heard and immediately Watanuki stopped.

"No…" He smiled wearily. "I won't let you trick me into feeding you. I just won't feel bad!" A small snarl was heard and Watanuki ignored it. He focused on happy thoughts.

"_Stop." _The creature demanded. Watanuki continued to think;

_Seeing Himawari-chan, working for Yuuko and going on adventures, helping others, cooking, making Doumeki's…bentos… talking to…Doumeki… knowing that…Doumeki…is trying to help me… _Watanuki was a little surprised that most of the things he did that made him happy had to do with Doumeki, and his heart began to beat faster.

"_Enough!" _The creature screamed, obviously being hurt by the positive feelings. Watanuki smiled.

_Being with… _

After the last thought the seer's mind went silent and he collapsed on the floor.

Doumeki stepped into his temple just as the phone began to ring. Slowly he walked over to it and picked it up, muttering a simple hello. His heart stopped when he heard the voice on the other end of the receiver.

"Doumeki-kun," The witch said, "how was Watanuki-kun?" Anger swelled up inside the archer.

"I'm sure you already know." He replied. Yuuko laughed.

"I do, I just wanted to make sure you're still doing your job of drawing out the evil presence inside of him." Doumeki was confused for a moment.

"…What? Draw it out?" he asked. Yuuko sighed.

"Yes. I told Watanuki to stay close to you in hopes of making the evil force inside of him stronger." Doumeki nearly dropped the phone.

"What?" He asked, his usual calm voice gone.

"Calm down, Doumeki-kun. You want to save Watanuki-kun right? Then listen." Doumeki froze in his spot with his ear glued to the phone, listening intently for what the witch was about to say. "What you think is possessing him, isn't possessing him."

"The spirit?" Doumeki asked.

"It isn't a spirit." Yuuko replied. "It's something more powerful. A demon." Doumeki's eyes narrowed. He should've known! "On Friday, Watanuki left my shop and encountered this demon. Unknowingly, he allowed a piece of it to enter his mind and cause him to have that dream. That _vision._" Doumeki remained silent as he was putting two and two together. "Then the other day when you found him in the alley acting strange, that's when the hole in his mind was created, allowing more and more of it to come in every time he thought of the vision. The effect of the demon entering his mind little by little caused him to go weak, which resulted in him falling over, going to sleep, and, later on, pass out."

"But—" Doumeki started when Yuuko continued.

"The demon feeds off of emotions that much you know already. But due to him having little negative emotions, the demon wouldn't have been able to survive for long. So I told him to stay around you, hoping that you two would get closer and somehow cause distress for him."

But how did I—"

"The promise." Yuuko replied. Doumeki fell silent again. "Now the demon has enough power to take over Watanuki-kun's body for a while now right?"

"…yeah." The archer replied.

"Good, then he's almost ready." Yuuko smiled through the phone. "Stay close to him and let the demon completely take over his body." Doumeki gasped.

"I can't!" he stated loudly. Yuuko's voice went dead serious.

"You must. It's the only way to exorcise it."


	7. Chapter 7

Watanuki slept through the rest of the day and late into the next, lying sprawled out on his stomach on the floor. He didn't have the strength to move, and his body felt heavy. He couldn't even open his eyes. Instead, he focused on the familiar visions that flashed before his eyes.

_-Watanuki took off in a sprint, tears falling from his eyes, and stopped in front of the familiar temple._

"_**Promise you'll tell me if something's wrong."**_

"_**S-sure."**_

_**-**__He looked into the eyes of Doumeki Shizuka, and something inside him snapped._

"_**After I saw that you had little negative emotions that I could feed off of, I was about to leave and find a better host. However, after you made that worthless promise and your grief started to build, I decided to happily stay." **_

**-**_A shock of pain went through his body, and the archer ran towards him. Concern was written all over his face._

"**That promise was NOT worthless!" **

"_**Then why didn't you keep it?"**_

_**-**__He felt himself falling in darkness, surrounded by fuzzy purple images. He fell to his knees and grabbed his head, rocking himself back and forth._

"_**I'm going to help you, so hold on just a little longer."**_

_**-**__A faint voice was heard, and gradually it became louder. Watanuki, with dark, dull eyes, felt his body go numb. His usually happy appearance changed into one full of grief and hopelessness. He wanted to die._

The seer twitched as the images flashed before his eyes. The strength came back into his body and he jerked up, finding strange warm tears falling down his cheeks.

"_Do you realize how hopeless your situation is?" _A dark voice asked. Watanuki froze in fear. The light in the room became dark along with the atmosphere. A dark, cloudy looking substance surrounded the man who shakily stood up and looked around. He wasn't in his apartment anymore, that's for sure.  
"W-where am I?" Watanuki asked, voice trembling from fear.

"_Once you're ready, it will be your prison. But for now, it's your mind." _Watanuki didn't want to stick around and hear more, so he hopelessly took off in a sprint, tripping over his own legs in the process.

_I have to get out of here! _He thought as he looked around in the everlasting darkness for a speck of hope. His breathing was frantic and he could hardly keep his balance.

_Watanuki..._

"_You can't escape. Not when I'm in control." _Suddenly, Watanuki's chest felt heavy and he gasped for air. He fell to his knees and leaned over, trying his best to get some air in his lungs. It felt as if something was strangling him, grabbing him by the throat and holding on with all of its might. A chuckle was heard. _And you thought that mere happy thoughts could suppress me? Well it's going to take a lot more than that, I assure you."_

"L-l-let…m-me…g-go!" Watanuki gasped.

"_Go?" _The creature asked. _"Why would you want to leave here when you can stay and forget about your useless life?" _The grip on Watanuki's throat tightened and he stumbled forward a little more, lungs burning.

"I-it's not…useless." He gasped, clenching his eyes shut and reaching in desperation at the entity at his neck. "I have friends…a-and—" A loud, sickening laugh was heard and Watanuki tensed. The already thick atmosphere became even thicker as an arm draped in familiar black fabric materialized, followed by a familiar form with short black hair and piercing red eyes. Watanuki slowly opened a dull blue eye and looked at the creature causing the pain. The color that was there drained from his face. He forgot about all of his troubles and the situation he was in and just stared, wide eyed in terror at the figure before him.

Himself.

_Watanuki._

"_Do you really think those fools are your friends? They don't care for you. Who could, the way you lie to them all the time. You're nothing. You pretend you're fine, and what does it do for you?" _The Watanuki-look-alike glared at the original with his blood colored eyes. A smug look hung on his face as he threw the boy forward, releasing his grip on his throat. Immediately Watanuki gasped for air and, inhaling so much at a time, began choking.

_No…I can't let him put me down… _Watanuki began to think. The task proved to be difficult, however, after being deprived of air for so long. _He's just…trying to get…stronger. Can't…let him. _The glasses slid off of the seer's face as he leaned forward in desperation, still trying to get in enough air to make his body function. He looked up to see the creature gone. Frozen in terror, Watanuki's heart raced and the beating became loud, making his head hurt. He didn't move, didn't make any attempt to reach down and pick up the lenses so that he could see. His throat felt numb, and he could almost feel the hand still gripping it. Slowly, he gathered up enough courage to turn his head around and look behind his back, just as he saw people in horror movies do before they were attacked by the monster or killer. _That would be my luck… _Watanuki thought, almost laughing at the thought despite the situation he was in. The air he was holding unknowingly was released as he saw nothing behind him. Confused at what happened to the mirror image of himself, he turned his head back around, only to come face to face with the eyes of death. Watanuki jumped nearly out of his skin.

"Y-you —b-but—I-I…!" Watanuki gasped as he fell backwards in shock, hitting the ground as he looked up at the now fuzzy looking image. Suddenly, it all came to him. "Y-you aren't a spirit…You're…!"

"_A demon?" _The look-a-like laughed, throwing its head back in a demonic manner. Watanuki glared. _"Looks like you are almost all there, kid!" _The demon smiled horrifically, making the seer swell up with anger inside.

_Watanuki!_

"D-don't mock me." Watanuki growled, using what little strength he had left to stand up. He didn't really feel like it though, considering the "simple" possession he thought he had turned out to be, in fact, extremely dangerous and it bummed him out, but he wouldn't let this thing feel superior towards him. He needed to be strong, for just once in his life, despite how weak and helpless he was beginning to feel.

"_But it's true. You are so out of it, you can't even hear your so called 'friend' calling for you."_

"…What?" Watanuki asked, swaying to the side a little with almost half lidded eyes. He didn't know how much longer he would stay conscious with the demon draining energy from him like this, and with the pain he was feeling around his neck and in the pit of his stomach, a little sleep sounded nice. _What is that thing talking about…? _Another laugh was heard and the red eyed Watanuki stepped closer to the original and reached out, grabbing the side of his face. Watanuki could barely make out the creature's features (which were undoubtedly similar to his own), being on the verge of collapsing and having dropped his glasses somewhere. The snake like voice rang through the seer's ears as the creature leaned in, cold breath on the pale blue eyed man's ear.

"_The base of your so called 'happiness', the weapon you wield against me_ _to try to keep me from getting stronger, the one you lie to and make false promises with…the person who catches you when you fall." _Watanuki's eyes opened all the way and he stood there, one face coming into his mind.

_WATANUKI!_

The seer opened his eyes to the sight of Doumeki peering over him with a look of terror mixed with fear, both of the archer's large hands on Watanuki's thin face. Doumeki's face flushed with relief as he saw the color come back into the once lifeless pure black eyes, and then it quickly turned into anger.

"What's going on?" He demanded to know, keeping the smaller man pinned down on the ground, leaning his face in so that they were merely inches apart. Watanuki's eyes were wide with shock yet again as he peered into Doumeki's honey colored ones. He didn't answer which only made the bigger man squeeze the thin shoulders he was gripping tighter. The voice from the previous conversation he just had, as much as he would like to forget it, came back into his head.

"_**Do you really think those fools are your friends? They don't care for you."**_

Watanuki avoided eye contact with the serious looking man and looked off to the side. _There's no way that's true…Himawari…and Doumeki…they care. But still, why do I feel so unsure?_

"Watanuki." Doumeki's voice rang through the seer's ears, not at all in the mood to be ignored.

"Nothing's going on." Watanuki mumbled, trying his best to shake the taller man off. Doumeki would have none of that though, and held on even tighter. His golden eyes went wide when he saw the seer shift his head uncomfortably under his gaze, and he saw bright red finger-looking marks around the man's neck. Doumeki grabbed Watanuki's chin with his hand and forced the eye contact.

"I'll ask again. What's. Going. On." It wasn't a question, more like a 'You better tell me what's wrong with you or else something bad and dramatic is going to happen and trust me, you won't like it,' type of statement. "Did it hurt you?" Doumeki's eyes burned with fury, sending a chill down the possessed boy's spine.

"Nothing!" Watanuki screamed, trying to jerk out of the death grip the archer had him on. "I just…my plan…it failed." Doumeki released the man and allowed him to sit up, realizing he was shaking horribly and looking at his hands in distraught. "I thought I could…suppress it. You know…by thinking happy thoughts. It didn't work. I collapsed and opened my eyes and felt as if something was choking me…" Watanuki shook his head as tears threatened to fall and let out a failed attempt of a laugh. He grabbed his neck and felt the bruises where the cold hands clutching his throat had been. "Bottom line, small, happy emotions don't work on suppressing it and now I don't know what to do." He said sadly. Doumeki sighed and put a hand on the slim shoulder of his friend, his face softening.

"You scared me. You were lying on the floor with your eyes open, only they were completely black and lifeless. It was like you…were in a trance." Watanuki didn't move, he simply thought back to the horrible place he was just at, and the form the demon was in. "I just wish I could have protected you from it, but wherever you were, it seemed that whatever pain was happening to you happened to your body."

"It…said I was in my mind…my prison…And the demon, it looked just like me but with red eyes." He shook the sick feeling he got when he felt those eyes bore into him, like they were looking into his soul. Almost the same way Yuuko's did, but more threatening.

"I see," the archer stated, "but did it say anything else?" Doumeki asked, his soft grip on the man's shoulder tightening a hair as he remembered Watanuki yesterday with the dark, blood curling red eyes, thinking that that was what the demon in Watanuki's mind looked like. Watanuki bowed his head down lower.

"_**Do you really think those fools are your friends? They don't care for you. Who could, the way you lie to them all the time. You're nothing. You pretend you're fine, and what does it do for you?"**_

Watanuki shook his head.

"Nothing…just that it was a demon." He painfully lied. He knew full well that he was falling right into that bastard demons trap, but he couldn't tell Doumeki what the creature told him for some reason.

Especially since he wasn't 100% sure if it was true or not.

_Of course it's not true! Why else would Doumeki be here if he didn't care about me? _Watanuki thought as he mentally slapped himself for being foolish. _But still…I've lied to him so many times this past week, if he found out about it all now he would hate me. _Doumeki suspiciously watched the smaller man, not knowing whether his sad reaction was because he was hiding something or because he discovered he was possessed by a demon instead of a spirit which was worse. With Watanuki being so caring and not wanting people to worry about him, he wouldn't put it past the seer if he was actually hiding a vital part of the conversation he held with the creature.

"I see," Doumeki replied moving his hand from the boy's shoulder and placing it on his short black hair in a comforting manner. "Just hold on a little longer, please." He said in a soothing voice, just like a parent trying to calm down a small child who was afraid of the dark. Watanuki blushed. He had never seen such a calming side of Doumeki before, and his heart was beating like mad. He flashed back to the previous day when the archer actually pulled him into a hug, and almost wished it would happen again. But he knew that this was good enough, for he felt his fears subside and he couldn't help but smile.

"I will… Yuuko-san's coming back tomorrow. She can fix this, but man that price is going to be a big one." Watanuki forcefully laughed, trying to lighten the mood a little more. Doumeki stood up.

"Tomorrows White Day." He reminded the other. Watanuki jumped.

"I almost forgot! I have too—" He started as he tried to stand up, falling back towards the floor, only barely being caught by Doumeki in time.

"No, stay home and rest." The archer commanded. Watanuki huffed.

"You're not my mom, you can't tell me what to do! Going to school one day won't kill me." He retaliated half heartedly, not really in the arguing mood. "Besides, it's White Day. I have to go." Doumeki shook his head.

"No."

"Yes," was the immediate reply from the stubborn man. Doumeki sighed knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with how Watanuki was going to behave (which sounded an awful lot like a little kid), and knowing he wasn't going to change his mind and it WAS a holiday, he simply shrugged.

"Fine, just…don't push yourself." He sighed. Watanuki smiled. This was one of the first battles he won with the archer, but he wasn't really up to celebrating. Instead he nodded his head, looked over to see his glasses on the ground beside him, picked them up, putting them on, and then stood up with a little bit more strength.

"I'll walk you to the door." Watanuki said as he slowly walked out of his cramped little room and into the small living room. Doumeki followed closely behind and narrowed his eyes.

"I'm staying." Watanuki froze and looked over with an annoyed look.

"Like hell you are!" He gruffly replied, a light blush on his face. Doumeki crossed his arms and stood by the slim man, looking like he wasn't planning on moving anytime soon.

"What if that thing comes back?" Doumeki asked with his usual stoic voice. "I should be here."

"No! I don't need you to babysit me! Geez, I'm not a little kid!" The archer fought back a smile as he listened to the seer shout at him, reminding him of how things used to be before the demon appeared. He missed the fights he used to have with the Watanuki, and how mad he would get. It was…cute, he guessed, how red the man's face would get, shouting insults knowing that he never meant them. But still… knowing that the demon was _still _there, he couldn't quite get the full enjoyment out of it. Watanuki, feeling that the archer wasn't going to budge, couldn't think of anything that he could do to make the man leave.

"Doumeki…please." He said sadly as he looked over at the man with a grim expression. "I…need to be alone for a while. It's White Day tomorrow and I have to make chocolate…I promise, if anything happens then I'll call you." Doumeki sighed after a while of staring into the seer's desperate eyes.

"Fine," Watanuki smiled. Winning against Doumeki was getting easier for him! Just as said man was about to walk out the door, he turned and faced the pale man, a blank expression on his face. "Are you going to make me some chocolate?" He asked. Watanuki blushed.

"I-I wasn't going to! But if you're going to complain to me like that then I guess I will!" Doumeki smirked, not recalling complaining about the subject.

"I want white chocolate." He informed the blue eyed man.

"You'll get what I make you!" Watanuki shouted as Doumeki shut the door behind him, a smile on his lips. Once he was alone, however, that smile disappeared and the archer's hand flew up to the eye he shared with his friend.

_Watanuki…_ He whispered ..._why can't I see what's happening to you?_


	8. Chapter 8

For the first time in a long time, Watanuki slept without a problem.

At first the seer was a little reluctant to drift off in a slumber, for he feared that the previous events that happened last time he went to sleep would happen. However, after working himself hard trying to make a White Day present for Doumeki, Watanuki greatly welcomed it, though no matter how hard he tried to ignore it the fear still surrounded him. When he woke up without a scratch or a bruise, or even to the dark aura that usually surrounded his apartment, he couldn't help but smile.

"Yes!" He cheered. "This is definitely a good sign!" He stretched and, with renewed strength, quickly got up and changed into his school uniform. Heading out into the small, quaint kitchen of his apartment, Watanuki grabbed the objects of affection he had made for his two friends, Himawari and Doumeki. Himawari's present consisted of a small, pink package with bright red ribbon tied up in a little bow on top to keep it closed. Inside sat light, fluffy milk chocolate made with great care. Watanuki's face turned a light shade of pink as he put the gift in his pocket, hoping that the girl would like it. The seer then turned towards the archer's present, a small white parcel with a green ribbon tied around it. Inside, as the man had rudely requested, sat white chocolate, made carefully to suit the larger man's taste. Watanuki went from being pink to red.

_Stupid Doumeki! This isn't because I like him! It's just showing my gratitude for helping me out for so long! That's IT! _Watanuki shoved the small parcel in his pocket and grabbed his bag, opening up the door and nearly jumping out of his skin.

"D-DOUMEKI! Don't do that!" Watanuki gasped, staring up at the man in anger at the sudden cause of déjà vu. "You're going to give me a heart attack one day!" He screamed as he closed his door and walked past the archer who stood there stoically, almost smirking at the color that tinted the seer's cheeks. He followed after the smaller man.

"I came to pick you up." Doumeki said. "I wanted to make sure nothing happened." He was relieved to see that the usually dull blue eyes of his friend were brighter, and he had more energy. Watanuki gave a half hearted glare.

"I'm not a baby you know." He shook his head. "Nothing happened anyways. I was actually able to sleep well." The two continued walking out of the apartment building and onto the sidewalk.

"That's strange. It seemed like the demon was stronger yesterday, so why is it suddenly gone?" Doumeki asked, a look of concern on his face. Watanuki shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but I'm kind of freaking out about it. Luckily Yuuko comes back today." He flashed the archer a smile that was rarely directed towards him. Doumeki nodded as the two entered the school grounds.

School went by slowly, and Watanuki was glad for that. He decided to give his friends the presents he made for them after school before they left, and he was extremely nervous about it. The weight of the objects in his pocket could be felt every time he moved, and it was driving him nuts! He even thought about wimping out and just leaving it in their lockers, but he decided against that. He figured out that the best way for him to give Himawari and Doumeki their chocolates was to do it in person. Besides, Doumeki will come hunting him down sooner or later looking for his chocolate that he requested the night before. The thought that the archer actually WANTED Watanuki to make him chocolate made the shorter man blush. After all, White Day chocolate was used to show affection, related to liking or loving someone. Watanuki turned redder and looked at the tanner man that sat next to him in the corner of his eye. _There's no way that Doumeki likes me, let alone LOVE me. _He turned towards the front of the room and tried to concentrate on what the teacher was saying with an annoyed look on his face. _I don't like him either! He protects me, tries to cheer me up a lot, and helps me out as much as he can, but isn't that what friends do? We're just friends… This chocolate won't mean anything else…right? GAH! _Watanuki slammed his head down on his desk, causing several confused stares.

"Watanuki," Doumeki began to ask when all of a sudden the bell rang for class to be dismissed. The short black haired man's head shot up from his desk.

"I have to go find Himawari-chan. Wait for me okay?" He asked. Doumeki shrugged.

"Sure. I have some business to take care of here anyways." Watanuki rushed out the door to the school in a rush and waited patiently for his beloved Himawari.

"Watanuki-kun!" The girl smiled as she stepped out of the building and spotted her friend. "Thanks for lunch! It was really good!" Watanuki blushed as he remembered the bentos he brought for lunch that he shared with her and the archer.

"You're welcome!" He smiled. "But anyways, Himawari-chan…I have something to give you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the two small presents, handing the girl the package one. "It's for White Day." Himawari beamed.

"Thank you so much, Watanuki-kun! It's lovely!" She happily grabbed the small present and smiled.

"I'm glad you liked it!" the blue eyed boy cheered before he quickly became more serious. "Himawari-chan…I-I used…to…like you." He whispered the last part so quietly that he was relieved the girl heard it and he didn't need to repeat himself. Himawari looked down sadly.

"I know, but I didn't know how to tell you that I didn't feel the same." Watanuki sighed.

"I kind of figured as much, but that's okay, because you're a really good friend and I don't want that to change." Himawari smiled.

"I'm glad!" She cocked her head to the side. "So does this mean that you like someone else?" Watanuki thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure…I don't think so at least." In truth, he really didn't know. He used to only pay attention to his feelings for the pigtailed girl, but since he didn't feel that way about her anymore he realized that he's been focusing his attention on a certain person… The dark brown haired girl smiled brightly.

"Well, this person that you're thinking about right now, the one you're planning on giving that other piece of chocolate to, do you enjoy being with them?" she asked. Watanuki jumped and looked at his hand, realizing that he forgot to put the small parcel it back into his pocket. He thought back to Doumeki, and how they went shopping and had ice cream and lunch together. It was…fun. Slowly he nodded his head. "Do you want to make this person happy?" she asked. Watanuki thought back to the promise he made with Doumeki trying to make him happy and about how he actually listens and goes out of his way sometimes just to make a special bento he requested. He nodded again. "And lastly, does this person make YOU feel happy?" Himawari asked. Watanuki didn't even need to think before he nodded his head. The girl clapped her hands together. "Then you DO like Doumeki!" she cheered. Watanuki gasped, to shocked for words.

"W-W-W-W-WHAT?" He screamed, blushing like mad and pulling at his hair. "WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?" the girl giggled.

"Well, you two are such good friends, and you make each other very happy!" Watanuki's face was as red as a tomato, and he hunched over in disbelief.

"There's no way I can like a jerk like that." He said, despite all of the positive thoughts he was thinking about him earlier. Himawari laughed.

"It's okay, Watanuki-kun! I support you! Now you better go give him his chocolate before he leaves!" She gave the young man a bright smile. "I wish you two the best of luck! Tell me how it goes!" With that, she ran off, long brown hair flowing behind her. Watanuki still held the parcel in his hand, and he stood that way for what felt like forever. Maybe…he did…

Watanuki quickly shook his head.

"No way I…" The blue eyed man clutched the parcel in his hand and sighed, putting it back in his pocket. "I better go find him and give him the stupid chocolate." Watanuki muttered, red tinting his face, as he began to walk down the path that led into the courtyard. He kept his face down, repeating the conversation he had with Himawari a moment ago. He did enjoy being with Doumeki, as much as he hated to admit it. Doumeki did make him happy…he did want to make Doumeki happy… but this didn't mean that he liked him, right? Suddenly, he heard a girl's voice and looked up to see a short, light grey haired girl standing in front of the archer. Watanuki quickly hid behind a large oak tree that was just to his right. As soon as the seer touched the tree, something in his brain clicked, like he's done this before. He quickly shook off the feeling and peeked out from the tree.

Doumeki stood there, a normal, emotionless look on his face. The girl he was with was blushing like mad. She had light red eyes and had part of her short hair pulled up on the side of her head. Watanuki, once again, felt the feeling of déjà vu, as something else in his brain clicked. He knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but he couldn't help himself.

"D-Doumeki-san…I…really like you…" The girl said in a soft voice as she looked down towards the ground. Watanuki's chest stung.

_What…? _He thought as he heard Doumeki's reply.

"I'm sorry," The girl's head shot up and tears welled up in her eyes. Watanuki's eyes opened up wide as he leaned in a little further.

"D-Do you…like someone else?" The girl asked, her voice lower from being disappointed. Doumeki was silent for a moment before he replied. Watanuki could feel his breathing slow as his body began to slightly tremble. Finally Doumeki spoke up.

"Yeah," The girl gave a small smile and Watanuki's heart skipped a beat, having a bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

"She's really lucky." Watanuki let out a shocked gasp. He stood there, his breathing slowly becoming frantic, as his mind went dark. He backed up, tears threatening to fall, and began trembling.

_S-She…? _Was the only thing on his mind. He pulled out the parcel with the chocolate he made for the archer and stared at it, tears dripping on it. Watanuki's knees wobbled as he felt something else inside his head click. Before the archer could say anything else he heard a 'thump' from off to the side and turned to see a pained expression on the seers face before running away, dropping a small parcel. Doumeki stared in shock as he recognized this scene.

"WATANUKI!" He called out, chasing after the man and leaving the girl behind. Watanuki ignored the frantic calls from behind him as he continued running, his long legs making the task easier.

_I-I'm an idiot. What was I expecting? I knew he didn't like me. I-I'm so stupid! Even though I told myself over a million times I didn't… I-I guess…I really…liked Doumeki…. _Watanuki turned the corner, tears flowing freely from his eyes. Knowing he lost the man a while back, Watanuki stopped and fell to his knees in front of the familiar temple, burying his face in his hands.

"I-I…hate myself." He sobbed. He felt his muscles tense and his eyes opened wide at the sudden feeling of pain. It felt as if his body was on fire! He remembered the last time he felt like this… "No…" Watanuki gasped as the last second as he grasped his chest and leaned forward. He screamed and tried his best to get air in his lungs but to no avail.

"_Finally…you're finally ready…" _The familiar cackling could be heard and Watanuki trembled.

"WATANUKI!" The seer strained his head and looked to see Doumeki running towards him. Something else inside his head clicked.

"Dou…me…ki…" Watanuki gasped as he felt more pain going through his chest. "It…hurts…!" Doumeki rushed to the seer's side and bent over, trying to see the face of the paler man.

"Watanuki, look at me," He ordered. Watanuki, despite the pain looked up at the archer. Doumeki almost gasped as he saw one of Watanuki's blue eyes turn a dark red, and saw the other one starting to turn red around the edges. Quickly Doumeki got up, knowing that the demon was starting to take complete control of the smaller man. Despite how much he wanted to help, he couldn't. He needed to get the boy to Yuuko's immediately. He ran into the gates of the temple and grabbed his bow that happened to be by the entrance and he ran back to Watanuki's side. "Watanuki!" He called out after he noticed the seer stopped moving. He watched in horror as the limp body fell to the ground, reaching out and catching the man before he hit the concrete. "Watanuki, Watanuki!" He shouted, shaking the man. The bow was dropped by his side as he embraced the black haired man. "Don't worry; I'm going to help you." He tried to calmly say, though his voice was a little shaky. He squeezed Watanuki tighter, the seer's face resting on the crook of his neck.

"_Dou…me…ki…" _Doumeki let out a yelp of pain as he pushed the man back and his hand flew to his shoulder. He looked at his hand to reveal a red sticky substance leaking from what appeared to be a bite wound. He looked forward in horror to see Watanuki's body nimbly sitting up and piercing red eyes boring into his own as if reading his soul. Blood was present on the side of the pale lips which were curved upwards to reveal a dark and sinister grin. The tongue licked up the remainder blood and the creature laughed darkly.

"_Hmmm, your blood is sour, not really to my liking I'm afraid."_

"Watanuki…" Doumeki breathed, giving a death glare to the body that sat in front of him. He knew this was the demon now, and not his beloved friend. The demon gave a sheepish grin.

"_Sorry to disappoint you, but this is MY body now,"_


	9. Chapter 9

Watanuki opened his eyes as a shock of pain erupted through his body. Every fiber in his being wanted to scream out in pain, but when he opened his mouth to do so, no sound came out. He looked ahead of himself to see a bright light dwindling away, getting smaller as the distance between the seer and it grew farther.

He was…falling?

His dark, dull, blue eyes were wide in shock as he reached out in an attempt to grasp the light, knowing he was doomed to fail miserably. Darkness was surrounding his body, the cool tingle lingering on his skin and sending chills up his spine. The atmosphere was thick and heavy, making the seemingly easy task of breathing very difficult. He clutched his fists in pain as the burning sensation spread throughout his person. As if being pulled by an invisible wire, Watanuki's body began to turn and suddenly his feet hit solid ground, causing him to immediately fall onto his knees. He clutched his sides in pain and hunched over, eyes closed with a look of distraught on his pale features.

"_I deserve to be here. I brought this upon myself." _Watanuki's head shot up at hearing the low monotone and depressing voice echo throughout the darkness…

…_his _low monotone and depressing voice.

"…W-what?" He began. A sharp cackling was heard from all around the seer and he furrowed his brow in anger and shakily stood up, despite the harsh protests of his body. "W-where…are you?" He asked.

"_I am nowhere and everywhere, little Kimihiro-kun. It's going to stay like that." _Watanuki shuttered at the sound of his first name on the creatures lips. It only made him angrier.

"Where the hell am I?" He asked when all of a sudden a stroke of pain went through his chest and he kneeled over in pain.

"_Watch your tongue when you're in such a hopeless situation." _The creature snapped before it went on. _"You are in your prison, just like I promised. This is your mind, the place I was trapped in until you finally released me with your despair." _Watanuki growled at the voice when all of a sudden a metallic taste came into his mouth. He slowly brought his hand to his mouth and examined it, finding a crimson red smudge on his fingertips.

"Blood?" He asked in disbelief, eyes wide in terror. Another laugh was heard.

"_It seems you can taste and feel what your body does. Interesting…" _The demon said. Watanuki could have sworn that he could feel in grinning, which angered him more. But then whose blood was in his mouth? Did he even want to know? What did this thing plan to do with his body? Watanuki's stomach churned in disgust at the thought of this…_thing_…using his body to hurt people. It made tears want to well up in his eyes.

"_I'm a fool. I want to disappear. No one cares about me. I deserve to be here." _There was his voice again, echoing throughout the darkness. The seer sat up a little more after wiping his mouth free of the unknown blood taste and peered around him in the darkness.

"W-what…is that? The voice… It can't be mine…"

"_But it IS yours." _The demon's voice replied. _ "These are your true feelings and the feelings that I am currently consuming. The more feelings of yours I consume, the worse you feel. And the worse you feel, the more you fade away. When I have finished eating the despair you feel in your heart, you will disappear completely." _Watanuki gasped and threw his hands to his mouth.

"That's impossi—" he began when the demon's voice butted in.

"_Look at your hands." _Watanuki obeyed and slowly held his hands out in front of his face. Immediately he regretted his decision.

"What the—" he gasped as the demon roared with laughter.

"_That's right. Little by little as I remain in control of your body and absorb the sadness and despair in your heart, you shall disappear until you're soul is completely gone and we become one." _

Watanuki began to shake as he kept his hands in front of his face in disbelief.

His hands were transparent.

Doumeki stared at the form of the Watanuki imposter for what felt like forever. He picked up his bow and stood up, eyes locked on the red eyed demon, who had a smug little smirk on his face as he stared back. Doumeki kept his stoic appearance as he finally found his voice and was able to speak.

"What have you done to Watanuki?" He asked, his voice sounding emotionless. The creature laughed as he stood up, his body looking like a puppet that was controlled by strings. The motions unnerved Doumeki, making him feel sick to his stomach.

"_He's fine for now; can't say how he'll be later, with all of those negative feelings floating around in his heart." _Doumeki's grip tightened on his bow. The demon's voice was demonic and taunting, sounding like Watanuki's voice with a dark, sinister sounding voice placed over it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The archer asked, calm appearance cracking a little. The demon smiled.

"_It means that if he doesn't release his grip on his despair he'll be mine forever, just like a game he has to win. If he loses and I win then I get to keep the body as a consolation prize while his soul merges with mine." _Anger welled up in Doumeki and he aimed his bow at the demon, ready to attack. His golden eyes narrowed into slits as he pulled the string back, staring at his bored looking target.

"Let him go _now._" Doumeki ordered. The Watanuki-look-alike stepped towards the archer in a casual fashion.

"_Shizuka-kun, do you honestly think that your simple spiritual arrows can stop me?" _He pointed towards his -_Watanuki's- _chest. _"As long as I'm in this body you can't stop me. It's my shield." _The sky grew darker and the light wind ceased. The air pressure grew thicker as the demon stepped closer to Doumeki in his puppet like manner, face devoid of any emotion. Fire flared up in the archer's chest as he gripped it and kneeled over in pain, dropping his bow on the ground. The demon bent over and pulled his face up, red eyes half lidded and a frown on his face. Doumeki winced in pain. The pale face leaned in towards Doumeki's ear. _"Just think, all the pain your feeling, he's feeling twice as bad. All. Because. Of. You." _Doumeki's eyes were wide as he took in the information the raspy version of Watanuki's voice said. The cold breath on his ear and the tingling sensation on his skin from the pale hands that were left there made Doumeki wanted to pull back and run away.

He couldn't move.

Suddenly, a gust of air went through the archer and he fell back in surprise, quickly picking himself back up again as backed away from the demon, a growl in his throat.

"_Wow, you never cease to surprise me!" _The Watanuki look-a-like purred. Doumeki glared daggers at the smug look the other was giving.

"What did you do?" He asked loudly, slowly backing away from the pale form. The demon smiled.

"_I merely tried to feed off of your negative emotions. Despite how upset and angered you are, however, I can't seem to get to them." _It took a step closer to the archer and pointed to the wound on Doumeki's shoulder that was made only minutes ago. _"Could it be because of your blood?" _Doumeki narrowed his eyes in disgust and grabbed his shoulder protectively. The demon laughed. _"Well, you're no good to me either way, so I better find some other unsuspecting people to feed off of." _The imposter turned to walk away, but Doumeki sprang forward and grabbed its arm. Even through the black sleeve of Watanuki's school uniform, the golden eyed man could still feel the coolness of the skin. It unnerved him a little but he still managed to keep a hold of the arm.

"What could you possibly hope to accomplish by possessing Watanuki and feeding off others?" He growled, his grip tightening. "What do you hope to gain?" The demon turned briskly, his red eyes staring into Doumeki's gold ones. The archer found himself entranced by the stare and released the hold he had on the arm, glaring daggers to the best of his ability. The atmosphere changed. It seemed darker then it was earlier, and the air became even thicker. With the puppet-like movements, the demon backed up with a sinister grin on his face and emotionless red eyes. Doumeki's glare didn't falter, though he could feel his knees shake and his shoulders threatening to tremble. No! He couldn't be weak. Not now…

"_What could I _gain_?" _It repeated, throwing its head back and laughing darkly. It quickly turned its head towards the archer, and Doumeki felt his chest burn up again, only this time it was worse than it was before. He let out a gasp and fell over, clutching his chest in pain. The demon laughed again. _"A new body, new people to feed off of, but most importantly, I get power. I _want_ power. Isn't that what everyone wants?" _Doumeki didn't answer.

He couldn't, for he was trying to prevent himself from letting a noise escape his lips to show the demon he was in pain. The monster continued.

"_As you know, I possess people based on their feelings. Weak people with no confidence, low self esteem issues, depression, who hate themselves, and hate others. You're friend is all of the above." _A sinister grin rolled on the demons-Watanuki's-pale lips. "_I stayed in that alley for days, waiting for a special person to walk by that I could feed off of. I saw Kimihiro-kun as he was being attacked, and the smell of his blood allured me. I went in and attached a piece of myself to his presence; just to try him out, scaring the spirit that was attacking him off in the process."_ The demon then shrugged. "_After a day or so, I realized that he wasn't a negative person, or at least not enough for me to survive on, and I was thinking about leaving and finding a new host, despite how good his blood smelt to me. However, interestingly enough, he subconsciously sensed me and, with my aura combined with his power, he had a vision from the future, a premonition."_

Doumeki listened intently, his eye giving a tingling feeling as Watanuki's dream was mentioned, remembering that he saw it earlier through his and the seer's shared eye. It was coming true.

"_The 'dream' managed to cause an opening in his mind where the piece of myself that I attached to him was able to enter from in order to keep in open. I figured I'd be able to stay and feed off his negativity easier, but there was still nothing. I'd have to leave." _Doumeki froze as the demon stepped in front of him and looked down, grinning from ear to ear in a maniacal way. He felt his heart stop for a moment. "_Then you forced him to make that promise, not that I'm complaining." _The painful sensation running through Doumeki subsided as he panted from exhaustion. _"Because of you, regret, remorse, guilt—All the likes began to flood into him and little by little my presence within his mind grew stronger. I was even able to take over his emotions for a few seconds and cause him to get overly angry and act out of character a few times." _Doumeki gasped as he remembered when he and the seer got into the fight under the cherry blossom tree during lunch and Watanuki just stormed off. The demon began to laugh psychotically, making Doumeki flinch. _"He even felt unsettled at the thought of passing through the barriers of the witch's shop!"_ The laughing died down.

"_Have you noticed that he was sleeping a lot? Of course, since his body was supporting two souls, he needed extra sleep to get more energy. Even when he didn't want to, I forced him too. I was gaining more and more control and I wanted to prove it. At one point he ran back to the alley where the rest of my soul resided, and through the opening I made earlier I was able to completely place myself inside his mind. He wasn't ready yet, and you saw to that when you grabbed his arm and the scent of your blood repulsed me, causing me to go into his mind weaker then what I originally was. It didn't matter though; I still became stronger. Even when he met up with your grandfather in his dreams, I was able to put a stop to that." _Doumeki was shocked by this. This thing was able to control Watanuki's dreams too?

"_I never would have been able to live in this body if it wasn't for you," _The demon smiled, closing his eyes. For a fraction of a second, as the monster raised his left hand to his chest with a soft smile playing on his lips, Doumeki could have sworn that it was really Watanuki. However, once the warm-looking smile disappeared and the sinister grin reappeared, and the scarlet eyes narrowed in his direction, Doumeki once again felt powerless. He narrowed his eyes as well and lowered his head to the ground.

"I…guess it is my fault." He started, closing his eyes and using his depleting strength to stand up, breathing still heavy and sweat still forming on his brow. "I promised Watanuki that I'd protect him. And…even though I had an idea of what was going on, even though I actually _talked_ to you back in the nurse office, I still hesitated—I wanted him to tell me what was wrong." He opened his golden eyes that were still lowered to the ground. "But he didn't."

"_Want to know a secret?" _The demon asked, his eyes locked onto Doumeki like a cat stalking its prey,_ "he actually might have told you everything from the start if he wasn't debating with himself about how he felt towards you." _Doumeki's gaze shot up towards the look-a-like, a look of shock evident on his face.

"What—" He gasped, still struggling with his lack of energy, "—are you talking about?" The demon howled with laughter, somehow finding enjoyment out of everything going on around him.

"_You couldn't tell?" _He asked_. "Most of the negative feelings you caused were because of him struggling with wanting to keep that promise he made with you to make you happy. At night when he was dealing with me, he would wish you were with him, to help protect him. He based all of his happiness on you when he was trying to fight me. You are his special person!" _More cackling filled the seemingly empty streets as Doumeki sat in silence, absorbing all of this information. Watanuki…liked him. _Him. "What makes this even better is that despite his feelings towards you, you ended up being the one to push him into the dark abyss. Ironic, ne?" _The happy smile quickly disappeared off of the demons borrowed lips and the atmosphere felt heavy again. In a low monotone voice, the demon spoke towards Doumeki, _"I'm done talking."_ Doumeki's chest burned fiercely again and he fell back down to the ground, clenching his jaws together tightly in agony. _"If this spell doesn't kill you, then you're free to go. Thanks to your exorcist blood, you mean nothing to me." _He turned his back and began to walk away from the archer. Doumeki looked up to see the retreating back of the demon, seeing it stop and look back one last time. "_Don't ever cross my path again."_ With that, he continued walking until he was out of sight.

_Watanuki…Watanuki…I'm sorry… _Doumeki thought as he lay on the ground, clutching his chest at the agonizing pain shooting through him. His vision was turning black and he could feel himself losing consciousness. He wasn't going to make it. _I knew from the start what was going on…I couldn't do anything about it. I…should have tried harder. _He thought back to a while ago when he met the girl after school and how she confessed to him.

"_**She's really lucky."**_

_I…was actually talking about…you…Watanuki._ He wanted to laugh but knew he couldn't. He couldn't do anything but lay there and wait for the end. _You…always was one to…assume things without getting all of the information… _It didn't matter anymore, however. He couldn't prevent anything from happening. Watanuki was going to die without knowing how he felt, and Doumeki was going to die without telling him. "This…all seems like a laughable…coincidence…" He forced out as he began to go numb, losing feeling in his limbs. Everything went black and silence followed, engulfing Doumeki. He felt like he was floating in nothingness, until something familiar began pulling him back. A familiar voice reached his ears, acting like a life line pulling him back to shore.

"How many times do I have to tell you boys, 'there is no such thing as coincidence—'" Doumeki opened his eyes slowly as the pain he was feeling subsided and his breathing suddenly evened out. He looked up at the smiling yet somehow solemn face of Yuuko. "'—only inevitability.'"

**A/N**

**Hey guys! Sorry for the almost year long hiatus! I probably lost most of my readers by now, but if you are new to this story or stuck by me all this time, then here's chapter nine! It was mostly just a plot hole filler, so I hope it wasn't too boring. I wasn't even planning on putting this chapter up for a while until I fix all of the other chapters, but I figured that it needed to go up. Yes, I am rewriting all of the other chapters. Well, not really rewriting them, but I have really improved on my writing skills so I was enhancing them. I haven't uploaded any of the enhanced chapters yet, I want to do them all so I can update them at the same time, but when I do you can expect easier dialogue to understand, more details, and less OOCness. They will also be longer too. You don't have to read them when I do put them up though, but I would recommend it. Anyways, sorry for the long wait and please review! I update faster when I know that people actually look forward to reading what I write! And plus this story is almost finished! Yay!**


	10. Chapter 10

"Yuuko…?" Doumeki started as he slowly regained his strength, still laying on his back and looking up at the witch. Yuuko let out a soft chuckle as she put her hands on her hips and looked around the area.

"Wow, you boys sure do get into a lot of trouble when I'm not around, especially Watanuki." She looked back down at Doumeki and extended her thin arm to help him up. He accepted it and stood, examining himself.

"When did you get back?" the archer asked. "How did you make the pain stop?"

"I got back just a while ago. About the pain, it was easy; I just granted your wish of wanting it to stop." Doumeki gasped. He didn't remember making the wish for it to stop... "It was a subconscious wish." The witch added, almost as if reading his thoughts. Doumeki, despite being relieved that the witch was here and could help him, narrowed his eyes at Yuuko.

"What's the price?" he asked curiously. Yuuko put her hands back on her hips. She was wearing a deep blue kimono with a butterfly pattern on it, a red obi with beads wrapped around it, her long black hair tied up into a bun with a butterfly clip holding it in place.

"I'll call this a freebie…" she started, "…only if you save Watanuki." Doumeki thought back to Watanuki and instantly, what little was left of his hope for saving the boy fell.

"The demon has him." He said, voice slightly lower than usual. "It's my fault. I couldn't do anything." He lowered his gaze to the cement ground. "He was suffering and I knew it, but I couldn't do anything!" He unconsciously clenched his fists at his side. "I made things worse." Yuuko came up beside the tall teen and comfortingly put her hand on his shoulder.

"You did well, Doumeki-kun." Her voice was stern, her crimson eyes locked onto Doumeki. "You did exactly what I told you and nothing else." He looked over at her in shock.

"What?" he asked, confusion staining his voice. Yuuko removed her hand and crossed her arms.

"Do you remember what I told you on the phone?" She asked. "I told you to draw the demon out; that it was the only way to exorcize it. You couldn't have done anything without making him worse."

"But I—" he started when Yuuko put a finger to his lips, instantly silencing him. Her eyes narrowed as they focused on his golden ones, and she spoke with a calm yet stern voice.

" This is unlike you, Doumeki-kun, submerging yourself in self-regret. You can tear yourself up about this all you want, but the sooner you accept what happened than the sooner we can go rescue Watanuki-kun before he disappears." She walked in front of him, her back turned as she spoke to him. "You do want to save him, don't you?" she asked, her voice knowing. Doumeki instantly nodded.

"Yeah, I'll save him…but how? That demon…it said I couldn't exorcize it while it was in Watanuki's body…" Yuuko turned and faced the archer.

"You know why you can't exorcize it?" She asked, only to receive silence from Doumeki's end. "It's because of Watanuki's blood. It is enhancing the demon's aura, creating a steel-like barrier for him, one your arrows can't pass through."

"Then how…?" Doumeki started when he fell silent. He was feeling so weak at the moment, an emotion that felt strange to him. He usually was the calm and stoic one, the one that kept his cool and his head on his shoulders in desperate times. Could it be because the danger Watanuki was in was greater than anything they have encountered so far? Yuuko flashed Doumeki a calming smile as she walked back up to him.

"If you can't exorcize the demon from the outside, then you simply have to go _inside_ to exorcize it." Doumeki raised an eyebrow as Yuuko gave a mischievous smile. "Just listen carefully."

Doumeki ran along the sidewalk, bow strung across his uninjured shoulder, through the dull, gray looking town in search of the Watanuki-imposter. Everything seemed to have lost its color, and the sky looked as if it could rain at any minute. He looked over to see a young looking girl lying sprawled out on the side of the road. Without hesitation, Doumeki ran up to her and dropped down beside her.

"Oi!" He called to the girl. She had short brown hair and wore an elementary school's uniform, but Doumeki didn't know which school. She didn't respond, her eyes closed as if lost in a deep slumber. The archer shook her again, thinking she was dead, but sighed in relief as he could see and hear her breathing. _What happened to her?_ Doumeki thought as he looked around for any signs of help. He didn't have time to deal with this, as much as he hated to admit. He needed to find Watanuki, he needed to make sure the seer was alright. He needed to save him, to bring Watanuki back to him. As his eyes scanned the oddly darkened streets, he spotted a man, leaning up against a building. Instantly, Doumeki picked up the little girl and ran down the street towards the man.

"Oi, can you hear me?" Doumeki asked as he shook the man, having set the girl down beside him. This man looked pretty young, early twenties at most. He slumped back against the wall unconscious as Doumeki stopped shaking him. He looked around and noticed, a few feet away from them, an older woman was on the ground as well, unconscious as the other two people were. Doumeki scanned further down the road to see a few others on the ground or propped up against something as well. _What the… What's going on?_ Doumeki took back off in a sprint, following the trail of bodies as they led him down the seemingly endless road. A few people here, a few there, all of different ages and sizes. _This must be that demon's doing! _Doumeki realized as he took another turn down the street, seeing more bodies piled up to show him that was the way he should go. _If I follow these bodies, then they should lead me right to it._ Despite how sick this situation made Doumeki feel, he was relieved to know that finding the demon wasn't going to be as hard as he thought. _But what did it do to them?_ He wondered as he avoided stepping on a person's arm. _They were alive, just unconscious. Almost as if he drained their energy._ Then a thought hit Doumeki but he pushed it to the side as he stopped at the entrance of the local park where he could feel a dark aura leaking out from it.

"This must be the place," The archer thought out loud as he gripped his bow and stepped inside. He scanned the area. Everything looked dark and cold, like the place hasn't been inhabited in years. The only thing that shook Doumeki from this thought was the bodies of children and adults all spread around the playground and through the grass. Doumeki followed his senses as he walked down the hiker's path through the small woods and into a clearing. Hundreds of thousands of flowers growing on very tall, intricately placed bushes were spread out throughout the garden, all wilting at what the teen assumed to be the dark aura. Walking through the maze of brush (occasionally stepping over a body), a wave of nausea hit the archer like a ton of bricks. His knees buckled from under him, but he wouldn't allow himself to fall to the ground and appear weak. Clenching his fists again, he inhaled and rounded the last corner of the maze. What he saw left him wide eyed in a state of shock.

There, up ahead, was the demon possessing Watanuki's body. In its pale hands it held a woman, early twenties with blonde hair. It brought her up to its face with their lips just inches apart. She was conscious, tears filling her eyes as she struggled to get away by kicking her dark, denim clad legs in every direction, begging to be released. Doumeki snapped out of his shock and ran up to them.

"Put her down!" He growled towards the demon, eyes narrowing as he held his bow up in his firing stance. The woman and the demon both turned to look at him, relief evident on the woman's face. At first, the demon's crimson eyes widened in shock. Then, a smug look overcame his features and he leaned closer towards the woman, muttering the word, _"gladly_", before he heard the woman scream as she turned back towards her attacker and some dark mist came out of her mouth and into the mouth of the demon. Suddenly, the Watanuki-look-a-like let her go after she let out a choked sob and collapsed onto the grass. Doumeki looked at the woman lying in a heap on the ground then back towards the demon, extreme anger and hatred evident on his features.

"What did you do to her and the others?" He asked, his voice unusually calm. The demon laughed and licked its lips, making Doumeki even angrier.

"_I merely fed myself upon their emotions. The bad ones, to be exact." _After seeing the archer's confused expression, it continued. _"I create fear inside of them and feed off of it. The more I extract the negative emotions from, the stronger I get."_

"I thought that's why you possessed Watanuki." Doumeki said crossly, holding his bow in place. The demon sighed.

"_Didn't I tell you before?"_ it asked. _"I want power. Sure you're friend gave me some, but not nearly as much as I wanted."_ Then it narrowed its eyes as the already thick atmosphere grew even thicker, if at all possible. _"And didn't I say never to cross my path again?"_ It began to step closer, completely disregarding the woman at its feet by kicking her as it walked past her_. "Seeing as I can't do to you what I did to the others, you'll have to die now." _With dull red eyes locking onto Doumeki's gold ones, the feel of fire shooting up through Doumeki's veins appeared once again, though this time worse than before. Letting out a startled gasp, the archer fell to his feet and dropped his bow, wrapping his arms around his body. The demon wasn't getting its usual enjoyment at watching its prey suffer, merely watching with disgust rather than amusement. "_I hate it when my prey doesn't put up a fight. It's no fun." _Moving it it's eerie puppet-like manner, the demon approached the young exorcist and positioned itself so that it was on its knee, arm propped up on its opposite leg as it was eye level with the archer. "_After seeing you before me again, even though I gave you the chance to escape, I had such high hopes for you."_ Doumeki strained his neck to look up into the red eyes, willing to give anything to see blue ones again.

_Just need…a few more minutes… _Doumeki thought as he clutched his hand tighter to his chest, trying to relieve himself of the pain. He used his free hand to slowly reach for his bow that sat a foot away from him. The demon leaned closer towards Doumeki's ear and the archer could feel a smirk on it's lips.

"_I'll take good care of your friend_," It said. Something in Doumeki clicked as, with newfound energy, he swung his arm that managed to get a hold of his bow around and aimed right for the demon. With cat like reflexes, the demon dodged and jumped a few feet back, an amused look apparent on its face. The pain inside Doumeki ceased and he kneeled over, panting and gasping for breath as sweat poured off his face.

"_Now that's what I wanted to see!"_ It laughed crazily, throwing its head towards the sky. _"You just don't give up, and I like that!"_ It lowered its head back towards the teen on the ground a few feet ahead. "_This is what makes the game of death that much more entertaining for me."_ It then extended Watanuki's arm out to the side, fingers outstretched as if reaching for something. "_Want to see a wonderful trick I learned now that I've had more power?" _it asked, a wicked and unbecoming grin on its face. Doumeki, still in a state of shock, said nothing.

_Just a little longer…_ he thought as he narrowed his eyes at the demon. _Hold on Watanuki._ Suddenly, a fire ignited onto the demon's hand, spreading down its arm and engulfing the entire limb in blue flames. And just as quickly as the flames appeared, they disappeared, leaving what appeared to be a dry, thick skinned, leather looking arm with extended claws, resembling in shape and size something similar to a beast. The demon laughed again, the simple act making Doumeki's blood run cold as he did nothing but stare in shock at what had happened to the once thin pale limb.

"_Like it?"_ the demon asked, moving the claw-like fingers around as if trying to get a feel of them. _"With a little more power I'll be able to revert to my true form while still on the land of the living. Then everything will die."_

"No…I won't let you." Doumeki started, standing up and weakly holding up his bow in his firing stance.

_We're out of time._ Doumeki thought as the demon cackled at him.

"_And what do you plan to do about it when you are as powerless with that bow as that woman lying over there?"_ it asked, taking a few steps towards the weakened archer. Doumeki said nothing as he allowed a smirk to roll onto his lips. The demon narrowed its eyes. _"I don't like that look,"_ it growled as it held its deformed arm back, getting ready to strike. "_You'll pay_!" it shouted as it swung down as hard as it can, aiming straight for the archer's face.

Doumeki closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Doumeki-kun, I had a few things to take care of before I came here." Doumeki opened his eyes to see Yuuko standing beside the Watanuki imposter, a triumphant smile on her face. She held up three talismans in one hand, and a roll of what appeared to be police tape in the other. "I figured you could use a few of these." She said, gesturing towards the talismans. They appeared to be three strips of paper, but Doumeki knew that they had high spiritual powers on them, these ones in particular having some strange power on them he couldn't place.

"_W-what did you do to me?"_ The demon screamed at Yuuko, and for the first time since he opened his eyes Doumeki truly looked at the demon. Its arm was just a few inches above Doumeki's head, still as if frozen in time. A look of pure rage evident on its face. Yuuko chuckled.

"Well I can't have you killing such a wonderful person!" she said, holding the talismans up once more. "I used these to paralyze you while Doumeki was distracting you and placed one on your back. The demon looked at the paper and growled.

"_How did you get that paper?_" It asked, crimson eyes glowing with fury that gave Doumeki the urge to step back. Yuuko gave another grin, this one more mischievous and knowing.

"I visited the current living descendant of the priest who exorcized you the first time. It took a while, but we were finally able to find the special paper that had been blessed by that man centuries ago. I just wrote the spell on them." Doumeki looked over at the witch in shock.

"That's where you were?" he asked, golden eyes wide. Yuuko nodded.

"Now Doumeki, place one of the talismans on your bow." Yuuko ordered, handing one of the pieces of papers to the archer which he stuck on. He nodded towards Yuuko after he was finished. "Now shoot." At this, the demon busted out laughing, causing both Yuuko and Doumeki to look towards it.

"_You're insane if you think that little toothpick arrow will be able to get rid of me_!" he shouted, laughing maniacally.

"Of course it's not going to completely get rid of you, you're much too powerful now." Yuuko said in a stoic voice. "We're just going to subdue you for the time being." The demon stopped laughing.

"_It won't work_," It growled as it struggled against its invisible bounds, "_who do you think you are?"_

"I'm the employer of the boy you're possessing, and that's Doumeki," She replied, pointing towards the exhausted archer. "Now shall we continue?" Yuuko asked as she turned towards Doumeki, nodding her head. The demon began shouting profanities as Doumeki aimed his bow and the arrow, amplified to three times it's original size by the talisman, towards the body of his best friend and shot. The demon was hit square in the chest, instantly making the deformed arm disappear in a burst of the familiar blue flame and the original arm taking its place. Watanuki's body fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Doumeki released the breath he didn't know he was holding and fell to his knees.

"Is it over?" he asked, weakly looking over at the familiar unconscious face of his friend. Yuuko frowned.

"I wish it was," she replied, grabbing the discarded police tape and pulling on the cut off end of it. Doumeki saw that it wasn't police tape but similar yellow tape with a different language on it. "The talisman combined with your arrow was only enough to render it unconscious. I told you earlier, we have to exorcize it from the inside." She wrapped the tape around Watanuki's wrist and pulled out some more of it, making it longer.

"Why not just use more talismans?" he asked as Yuuko ripped off the strand of tape she pulled from the roll and began tying it around Doumeki's wrist. "It would make the arrows even stronger, maybe enough to exorcize that thing." Yuuko shook her head.

"If those talismans were any stronger then Watanuki would die."

"What?" Doumeki asked, shock evident on his face. "How did you know they wouldn't kill him when I first put on one my bow?" he asked. Yuuko's face softened as she looked at the archer.

"I didn't really know, the strength of these talisman's are unpredictable, just like the man who made them. I had a feeling it wouldn't though." Doumeki opened his mouth to say more but Yuuko shook her head. "We don't have time to complain about something that worked in our favor. You need to go now." She said. Doumeki raised an eyebrow.

"Go where?" he asked. He held up his arm. "And what is this for?" he pointed towards the yellow take that connected him and Watanuki. Yuuko sighed.

"This tape is connecting yours and Watanuki's minds, acting as a bridge to give you the chance to go and find where he was forced to go after the demon took over his body. You can use your arrows in there, but be careful since you will be in the demons territory." She placed her hand on his shoulder as he gave her a determined look. "Bring him back," she said, a soft smile on her lips. Doumeki nodded and looked towards the slim figure a few feet away from him. If he didn't know any better, he would assume it was the old Watanuki lying there, a peaceful look on his pale features and not some psychotic demon bent of feeding off of miserable people.

_Wait for me Watanuki, I'll bring you back._

"The tape only takes effect when both people are sleeping," Yuuko said, interrupting the archer's thoughts. Doumeki looked over at her.

"But how do I—" he started when Yuuko stood up and kicked him in the back of the head hard.

"Sorry Doumeki-kun, not enough time to rock you to sleep or sing you a lullaby." She grinned before a more solemn expression took over. "Good luck,"


	11. Chapter 11

Doumeki opened his eyes as he drifted down into pitch black darkness, the sensation of sinking into murky water. He was calm, his breathing even, as he continued scanning the darkness. Only his body seemed illuminated. He stopped sinking as soon as he felt his feet hit solid ground. At least he thought it was solid ground. Everything around him, even below him, was black.

"Watanuki," Doumeki called, half expecting his voice to echo but found that it didn't. There was no reply. The archer began walking in the direction he classified as straight. "Watanuki," he called again. Still no reply. Doumeki reached up and clasped the bow that somehow managed to carry over into the seer's mind with him. It gave him a little comfort knowing that he wasn't completely unguarded.

_There's nothing there for me. No point to leave. I'm better off alone._

Doumeki froze at the voice that surrounded him. "Watanuki!" he shouted, looking all around, trying to find the source of the voice.

_Why bother trying for a shot at happiness? I'm never going to be happy._

Doumeki was getting furious now, and took off running. "Watanuki! Where are you?" He called out into the darkness.

_I should just die._

"Stop it!" Doumeki shouted, stopping in mid-run. "Don't say those things," he said silently. His fists clenched at his sides as he closed his eyes, breathing a little heavier due to his run. Slowly, footsteps could be heard from behind, and Doumeki shot up and turned in a flash. His eyes opened wide as they met a pair of dull blue ones. "Watanuki?" he asked, taking a step closer. He was right; there stood the dark haired teen, staring back at him in surprise, trembling and arms wrapped around his torso like he was trying to warm himself.

"D-Doumeki?" Watanuki asked, voice shaking. "What a-are you doing here?" Doumeki didn't answer as he ran up to the teen and enveloped him in a hug. His body was like ice. Watanuki fell to his knees and Doumeki followed, arms never leaving the smaller male.

"I'm bringing you back," Doumeki said after a few moments. Watanuki's trembling form froze and his head dipped down slightly, hiding his eyes.

"Don't bother. I deserve to be here, I know that now." He said, his voice low and sad. Doumeki pulled back and looked at his friend in shock and surprise.

"What?" he asked. "What are you talking about? What did that demon tell you?" He growled, grabbing the seer by his shoulders and shaking him slightly. Watanuki didn't look up.

"I-I realize that I only cause trouble for myself and everyone around me. When I believe I found happiness, it doesn't work out. Only bad things happen to me. T-there's nothing for me, I'm better off dead." Doumeki could only stare in shock as he listened. He grew angry.

"How could you say that?" he asked, shaking Watanuki harder. "Do you realize what you mean to everyone? To Kunogi, to Yuuko, to me?" Watanuki shook his head, hair hiding his eyes.

"Nobody cares. No one ever_ cared_." He said, voice trembling even more. Everything seemed to freeze as Doumeki grabbed Watanuki by the front of his school uniform, pulling him in and locking his lips with his own. He heard the smaller boy gasp, before wrapping his arms around the archer's neck and kissing back. The archer's warm lips dominated the seer's cold ones. Doumeki pulled away after a few seconds and held the side of the seer's face.

"Don't ever say that no one cared, because I always have." Doumeki said sternly, looking into the cold blue eyes. Watanuki's eyes began to fill with tears and a small smile crept onto his face.

"Thank you…" he said quietly, and Doumeki pulled him into another hug. The seer's slender arms wrapping around the archer's body as well. Doumeki felt more than willing to simply stay in that position, however, he felt Watanuki's arms tighten around his body. "_Shizuka…" _Watanuki whispered in the taller male's ear, making Doumeki's blood run cold. The familiar burning feeling began to spread from the spots where the seer's arms where placed, still tightening their grip on his torso, all the way through his body. He opened his mouth to let out a sound, but nothing came out. He tried to move, but found that he was frozen in place. He was foolish. He should have been more careful. This wasn't Watanuki, _his_ beloved Watanuki, but the thing he came in to destroy. _"Just a little longer…"_ Watanuki's voice, layered with a deeper more demonic sound, said. The Watanuki-look-alike began to chuckle until the chuckle turned into full out insane laughter. _"I didn't think you would come to visit, Shizuka-kun,"_ the demon said, pulling away from the archer. Doumeki remained in the same position, body feeling like it was being constricted by rope or chains.

He was trapped.

"_That witch really surprised me with those scrolls she received from the Sumeragi clan. As long as that scroll stays on my body on the outside, it's impossible for me to leave…without your help. I wonder if that witch knew it would come to this?"_ Doumeki could only watch helplessly as he struggled to move and to speak, failing drastically. He looked down, and for the first time Doumeki realized that glowing purple chains had wrapped around his body, most likely the cause of his lack of ability to move. The demon leaned back in towards Doumeki so that the two were face to face. _"Like that? That chain is the manifestation of a person's grief. It holds them in place until they can forgive themselves and be happy, and right now you must be feeling pretty upset at seeing that your precious Kimihiro was actually me."_ It laughed. _"Now, lend me your power, and I'll let you stay trapped in here with him."_ The demon looked at him with the face that didn't belong to it, and Doumeki grew angrier. His mouth opened, and whether or not the demon allowed it to happen, he found his voice.

"No," he replied, causing the demon to laugh.

"_You'd be wise to accept the offer of allowing your soul to live, because I could kill you here if I wish. It's too late to save him, he's too far gone. Lost in his own pit of despair. Just a little longer and he'll be mine. And once the seal is broken with your power then there will be no stopping me."_ The demon threw it's head back and laughed crazily again. The laughter seemed to claw at the archer's skin and making him shudder, like nails on a chalkboard. Doumeki never hated something so much in his life.

"I won't help you," Doumeki said through clenched teeth, biting back the pain he was feeling in his body. "I'd rather have my soul killed then help the likes of you go free." The demon narrowed its eyes at the archer, making the temperature ten degrees cooler. Doumeki struggled but he continued. "I came here to bring Watanuki back, and I will. If… he's in a pit of despair, he's alive, and that means you can't have full control of his body. He can take it back, and then it doesn't….matter whether I live or die, because he'll be stronger and you won't be able to stay here." The demon clenched its teeth and let out a snarl, a dreadful sound that sounded like a mix between a bear, a lion, and another type of beast. In a flash he was right in the archer's face again, the once cool blue eyes a bright red, the color of blood.

"_Were you not listening, fool? Kimihiro Watanuki is long gone. No one can bring him back. And if I choose to kill you right here on the spot, your plan will fail, and I will win."_ Despite the pain he was feeling, Doumeki managed to smirk.

"You…won't do that though, will you? Like you said… you need my power." The demon's eyes lit up in rage and the burning sensation intensified, causing triple the pain.

This time, Doumeki screamed.

The demon glared down at Doumeki, unsatisfied at the sight and let out another demonic snarl.

"_Go! Try and find him, but when you realize you are too late, you WILL help me or else I shall make whatever remains of that boy's soul suffer for the rest of time, leaving you alive to watch." _Doumeki's eyes widened as the demon continued. _"And if you truly care for this person, then that will be far worse than any death you could face."_ The demon disappeared, like he was never there at all.

And in an instant, the pain Doumeki felt was gone, replaced with a new empty feeling in the pit of his stomach, and a simple phrase engraved into his brain;

Find Watanuki.

Suddenly, the chains snapped off and Doumeki was free to move. He stood up and began running again, gripping his bow that slung over his shoulder.

_I'll find you Watanuki, I promise._

* * *

Yuuko sat, guarding the bodies of the two boys. She looked sadly over at Watanuki before closing her eyes. Slowly, she walked over to the boy, bending down and placing her hand on his cheek. Just as she thought; Ice cold.

_Right now, neither Watanuki-kun's soul nor the demon's soul is attached to the body, thanks to Doumeki-kun's arrow. But if it stays that way for much longer, then Watanuki-kun's body will die, and he won't be able to come back. And if his body dies while Doumeki-kun is in there, he'll die too, being trapped in Watanuki-kun's mind forever._ Yuuko stood up, her eyes focused at Doumeki who was currently risking his life to bring back Watanuki.

"Doumeki-kun, please hurry."


End file.
